subs. (common).—1. Drink. [WEDGWOOD: A corruption of FUZZLE.]
1621. BURTON, The Anatomy of Melancholy. The university troop dined with the Earl of Abingdon and came back well FUZZED.
c. 1696. B. E., A New Dictionary of the Canting Crew, s.v. FUDDLE, Drink. ‘This is rum FUDDLE, c. this is excellent Tipple.’
1705. WARD, Hudibras Redivivus, I., Pt. iv., p. 18.
| And so, said I, we sipp’d our FUDDLE, | |
| As women in the straw do caudle, | |
| ’Till every man had drown’d his noddle. |
1733. N. BAILEY, trans. The Colloquies of Erasmus, p. 125 (ed. 1877). Don’t go away, they have had their dose of FUDDLE.
2. (common).—A drunken bout; a DRUNK.
1864. Glasgow Citizen, 9 Dec. Turner is given to a FUDDLE at times.
Verb. (colloquial).—To be drunk.
1720. D’URFEY, Wit and Mirth; or Pills to Purge Melancholy, vi., 265. All day he will FUDDLE.
1754. B. MARTIN, English Dictionary (2nd ed.). To FUDDLE, 1. To make a person drunk. 2. To grow drunk.
1770. FOOTE, The Lame Lover, iii. Come, Hob or Nob, Master Circuit—let us try if we can’t FUDDLE the serjeant.
1855. THACKERAY, The Newcomes, ch. x. He boxed the watch; he FUDDLED himself at taverns; he was no better than a Mohock.
1889. Echo, 15 Feb.
| If rich, you may FUDDLE with Bacchus all night, | |
| And be borne to your chamber remarkably tight. |
