| 释义 |
▪ I. paddle, n.1|ˈpæd(ə)l|
Also 5 padell.
[Origin obscure; see also padle, pattle.
The implement in sense 1 was sometimes in 17–18th c. also called spaddle, which has been taken by some as the original form, and viewed as a dim. of spade. But spaddle is not known nearly so early as paddle, and may be altered from it, or the words may be unconnected.]
I.
1. A small spade-like implement with a long handle, used for clearing a ploughshare of earth or clods, digging up thistles, etc.
1407in Rogers Agric. & Prices III. 545/3 Padell for plough /3. 1560Bible (Genev.) Deut. xxiii. 13 Thou shalt haue a paddle among thy weapons [1611 upon thy weapon], and when thou woldest sit downe without, thou shalt dig therewith. 1679C. Nesse Antid. agst. Popery Ded. 9 To turn it as easily as the ploughman doth his water-course with his paddle. 1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxiii. 380 Him that follows the Drill, whose chief Business is, with a Paddle to keep all the Shares and Tines from being clogged up by the Dirt sticking to them. 1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. i. 141 Thistles removed by women with paddles. 1900Daily News 17 Sept. 7/2 By paddle I mean a small, sharp, spade-like instrument, with a handle long enough to serve the purpose of a walking-stick.
II. A spade-shaped oar, or something having a like function.
2. A sort of short oar used without a rowlock, having a broad blade which is dipped more or less vertically into the water, and pulled and pushed backward so as to propel a canoe forward: orginally applied to those used by Indians, South Sea Islanders, etc. The name is applied more generally to any form of oar used without a rowlock.
double paddle, one having a blade at each end.
1624Capt. Smith Virginia ii. 32 Instead of Oares, they vse Paddles and stickes. 1712E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 336 Short Paddles, made like an Oar at each End. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 281 On these the rower sits looking forward, with a double paddle. 1837W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 276 An Indian..plying the paddle, soon shot across the river. 1860Whittier Truce Piscataqua 11 Let the Indian's paddle play On the unbridged Piscataqua!
3.
†a. One of a series of paddle-like arms or spokes, radiating from a revolving axle, drum, or wheel in a ship or boat, so as to enter and push on the water in succession (obs.); hence,
b. One of the boards or floats which perform the same function more effectively in the ‘paddle-wheel’ of a steamer; a paddle-board; also,
c. A float of an undershot mill-wheel.
d. Short for paddle-wheel.
e. Short for paddle-boat or -steamer: see 11.
1685Petty in Fitzmaurice Life (1895) iv. 122 On each end of the Axis..a wheele of about 7 foot diameter, with 12 Stemms issuing out of each wheele and a Paddle or Oar at the end of each Stem of 3 feet square. 1685[see paddle-wheel]. 1698T. Savery Navigation Impr. 111 This engine is the least lyable to be injured by a shot..: for tho' it break some of the paddles, you suffer no inconvenience. 1758Emerson Mechanics (ed. 2) Gloss. 278 Paddles,..The laddle boards on the edge of a waterwheel. 1784S. T. Wood Patent Specif. No. 1447. 16 A wheel and axis is made to revolve, which in its revolution carry with it vanes, leavers or paddles, that are fixed to the extremity of the axis. 1786J. Fitch in Columbian Mag. (Philad.) I. Dec., Each evolution of the axis moves twelve oars or paddles five and a half feet; they work [like] the strokes of a paddle of a canoe. 1809Fulton U.S. Patent Specif. 11 Feb., I give the preference to a water wheel or wheels with propelling boards... Previous to adopting wheels I made experiments upon paddles. 1811H. James Patent Specif. No. 3426 The oars, paddles, or propelling boards,..revolving or turning in the direction of the lengthways of the boat or vessel. 1816R. Buchanan Propelling Vessels 24 The paddle⁓wheels..are 9 feet dia. and 2 feet 11 ins. wide. This boat has 10 paddles. 1819Lambert in J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic (1825) 72 The great advantage..is not only the superior hold and pressure which the water takes on the paddles or floats of such wheels, but the very little back⁓water which they create. 1833Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7) X. 549 Soon after this [1787], Mr. Miller built a boat with two keels, between which he introduced a propelling paddle; and Mr. William Symington of Falkirk applied the steam⁓engine to it. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop v, A great steam⁓ship, beating the water..with her heavy paddles. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 154 A stately ocean steamer, with throbbing screw or mighty paddle. 1897Daily News 23 Sept. 5/3 The first steamers to cross the Atlantic were paddles. There were even paddles in the Royal Navy.
4. Zool. A limb serving the purpose of a fin or flipper; as that of a turtle, whale, ichthyosaurus, or plesiosaurus; the foot of a duck; the wing of a penguin; one of the ctenophores or ciliated locomotive organs of the Ctenophora; one of the natatory feet of crustacea.
1835Kirby Hab. & Inst. Anim. II. xvii. 143 Paddles, by which term the natatory apparatus of the Chelonian reptiles, and of the marine Saurians..are distinguished. 1850H. Miller Footpr. Creat. iii. (1874) 33 The sweeping paddles of the Ichthyosaurian genus. 1860Hartwig Sea & Wond. vi. 73 The pectoral fins or paddles are no more than 6 feet long. 1871― Subterr. W. ii. 14 Arms..resembling the paddle of the turtle. 1894Newton Dict. Birds 705 In the water they [the wings of the penguin] are most efficient paddles. 1894G. Egerton Keynotes 33 The twelve weeks' ducklings..with..such dainty paddles.
5. An artificial disk or plate attached to the foot to increase its hold of the water in swimming, etc.
1823J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 208 The paddles, which are fastened to the soles of the feet or boots,..are made of block-tin four or five inches wide below.
III. Applied to various things shaped or used more or less like a paddle (senses 1 and 2).
6. a. A sliding panel or sluice in a weir or lock-gate which can be raised or lowered to regulate the quantity of water allowed to flow through; b. a panel regulating the amount of grain running out of a hopper.
1795J. Phillips Hist. Inland Navig. 361 The water in the lock is drawn off..by means of the paddles in the gates. 1815Pocklington Canal Act 45 Any paddle, valve, or clough in any of the lock gates. 1837Whittock, etc. Bk. Trades (1842) 202 The lower gates are loosened, and the ‘paddles’ of the upper gates are gradually raised which allows the water to rush into the chamber of the lock.
b.1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 158 A paddle, regulating the quantity of corn to be delivered to the mill, and by raising or lowering which, a larger or smaller proportion of grain may be furnished.
7. A paddle-shaped instrument or tool, used in various trades: e.g.a. in Glass-making, for stirring and mixing the materials;
b. in Brickmaking and similar industries, for tempering clay;
c. in Puddling, for stirring the molten ore;
d. in Leather-making (see quot. 1885).
1662Merrett Neri's Art of Glass App., A Padle to stir and move the Ashes and Sand in the Calcar. 1753in Chambers Cycl. Suppl. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 460 The clay..is then cut into small pieces with a paddle, not much unlike a spade. 1868Joynson Metals 73 The metal has now to be kept constantly stirred by the puddler with an iron tool called a paddle. 1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xiv. 280 The tools used by the puddler are..a long straight chiselled-edged bar called a ‘paddle’ [etc.].
1885C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xviii. 356 The motion of the wheels causes the stock to move up in front, pass under the wheels, and down on the concave bottom to the back of the vat, and thus by means of the paddles, and the constant changing position of the stock a thorough and gentle agitation is maintained.
8. An instrument with a flat blade or surface, used
a. for beating clothes while they are being washed in running water;
b. for administering corporal punishment to slaves, etc.; hence, a blow inflicted with this instrument.
1828Cherokee Phœnix 10 Apr. (Bartlett s.v. Cobb), Such negro..shall receive fifteen cobbs or paddles for every such offence. 1856Olmsted Slave States 281 The paddle is a large, thin ferule of wood, in which many small holes are bored; when a blow is struck, these holes, from the rush and partial exhaustion of air in them, act like diminutive cups, and the continued application of the instrument..produce[s] precisely such a result as that attributed to the strap. 1970Wall St. Jrnl. 16 June 1 The ‘board of education’, a paddle applied smartly to the backside, may be making a comeback in the classroom. 1977New Yorker 30 May 27/1 One of the boys..was said to have been struck more than twenty times with a paddle.
c. A short-handled bat with a broad, flat blade, used in various ball games.
[1925: implied in paddle tennis] .1935Mason & Mitchell Active Games & Contests xxi. 388 Paddle Ball... This is an excellent game played with a paddle-tennis ball and paddle. 1949P. B. Barringer Natural Bent xviii. 127 To play two-hole cat, four boys, two bases, a ball, and two bats were needed. These bats were sometimes called paddles. 1974E. Tidyman Dummy vi. 80 He..accepted a challenge to play table tennis..offering the doctor instruction on the proper way to hold his paddle. 1975Oxf. Compan. Sports & Games 745/1 Bigger and heavier paddles are used, and the ball may be played into court off the walls. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 299/2 The table tennis paddle is slightly smaller than the paddleball paddle.
d. Computing. A paddle-shaped device used to control the movement of an image on a VDU or television screen.
1980Kilobaud Microcomputing Dec. 87/1 Like most TV games, this one has a pair of paddle controllers. 1985Personal Computer World Feb. 124/4 Personal Peripherals..has acquired TG products, makers of joysticks, paddles and related products.
9. The long paddle-shaped snout of the paddle-fish: see 12.
1890in Cent. Dict.
10. Astronautics. A paddle-shaped array of solar cells projecting from a spacecraft.
1959Listener 13 Aug. 247/1 The four ‘paddles’ recharge the satellite's batteries by converting sunlight into electricity. 1966Electronics 17 Oct. 36 The two solar paddles each extend 19 feet from the Agena and together provide 15 kilowatts. 1972Nature 17 Mar. 90/1 The solar paddles and antenna were also reported to be working satisfactorily.
IV.
11. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 2) paddle-blade, paddle-dip, paddle-man, paddle-stroke; also paddle-like, paddle-shaped adjs.; (sense 3) paddle arm, paddle-crank, paddle-guard; ‘having, or propelled by, paddles’, as paddle-boat, paddle punt, paddle-sloop, paddle steamer, paddle tug; (sense 4) paddle-foot; (sense 7) paddle tool.
1839R. S. Robinson Naut. Steam Eng. 87 The ends of the *paddle arms pass through the centres.
1891Month LXXIII. 28 Leaving space enough between the *paddle⁓blades to admit his head.
1874J. W. Long Amer. Wild-Fowl Shooting 79 Now the building of a *paddle-boat is not so simple an under⁓taking as many of my readers may suppose. 1891Scribner's Mag. X. 13 She was a paddle-boat, built of wood, and was 207 feet long. 1938M. K. Rawlings Yearling xx. 261 The remaining bears were scrambling across the swamp like paddle boats, churning the water behind them.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 1594/2 The arrangement of the *paddle-cranks is intended to equally divide the weight of the controlling frame between the paddle-wheel and the paddle-wheel guard.
1899E. J. Chapman Drama Two Lives, Canadian Summer-nt. 68 With noiseless *paddle-dip we glide.
1954J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring ii. ix. 399 It wasn't a log, for it had *paddle-feet.
1847Carpenter Zool. §458 The Penguin,..aided by its *paddle-like wings,..swims and dives with great facility. 1861J. R. Greene Man. Anim. Kingd., Cœlent. 165 A row of strong cilia is attached in such a manner as to form a paddle-like plate, or comb.
1863A. Robb Heathen World & Duty of Ch. i. 19 We hear the song of the *paddlemen.
1909Yachting Monthly Dec. 93/2 The ‘*paddle punt’ is about 14 ft. long, strongly built on the Deal model. 1918N. Duncan Battles Royal iv. ii. 242 Old Elihu Maul, with a hook and line, had fished the Boiling Pot in civil weather from a paddle-punt. 1970E. J. March Inshore Craft Gt. Brit. II. ii. 82 The second class [sc. punts]..cost {pstlg}12. Generally known as ‘paddle punts’, they were used for inshore fishing.
1898Westm. Gaz. 20 June 10/2 The *paddle-shaped limbs are ‘fringed’.
1889Academy 27 July 52/3 He was in command of the *paddle⁓sloop Argus.
1886Outing VIII. 26/1 The Ripple, [a] *paddle steamer of the river steamer type. 1895Model Steam Engine 80 The paddles in the paddle-steamers act as outriggers. 1923Man. Seamanship (Admiralty) II. viii. 152 For long tows at sea the screw tug is the most efficient, as owing to the propellers being totally submerged they are not affected by the sea to the same extent as paddle tugs. 1930J. Masefield Wanderer of Liverpool 15 The Paddle-tug Wrestler arrived at an hour ere flood. 1955Times 6 June 6/6 Experience has shown that paddle tugs are more efficient than screw-driven tugs for work in confined basins because of their great manoeuvrability and power.
1868Joynson Metals 58 The iron..at a certain stage is collected at the ends of the ‘*paddle’ tools into balls or lumps.
12. Special Combs.: paddle ball, a game played with a light ball and wooden bat in a four-walled hand-ball court; paddle-beam (Shipbuilding), one of two large beams lying athwart a ship, between which the paddle-wheels revolve; paddle board, (a) one of the floats or boards fitted on the circumference of a paddle-wheel (= 3 b); (b) a wooden board for supporting a person in water, esp. when surfing; paddle-box, the casing which encloses the upper part of a steamer's paddle-wheel; also transf.; hence paddle-box boat, a boat forming, when inverted and stowed, the upper section of a paddle-box; paddle-crab, a swimming crab, esp. the edible crab of N. America, Callinectes hastatus; paddle-end, in decoration, an oval enlargement of a line or band, like the end of a paddle; paddle foot U.S. slang, (a) an infantryman; (b) a member of an airforce ground crew; (see also sense 11 above); paddle-hole, a sluice hole in a lock-gate to admit or discharge water (cf. sense 6); † paddle-plane Aeronaut. = cyclogiro, -gyro s.v. cyclo- 1; paddle-row, the ctenophore of a ctenophoran (cf. sense 4); paddle-shaft, the revolving shaft which carries the paddle-wheels of a steamer; paddle tennis, a type of tennis played in a small court with a sponge-rubber ball and wooden or plastic bat; paddle-tumbler, in leather-making, a tank in which skins are thoroughly washed by being kept in motion in water by means of a paddle-wheel; paddle-vat = paddle-tumbler; paddlewheeler, a paddle steamer; paddle-wood, the light elastic wood of a S. American tree, Aspidosperma excelsum, from which the Indians make canoe-paddles. Also paddle-fish, -wheel.
1935*Paddle ball [see sense 8 c above]. 1962Times 14 Nov. 3/6 Games of..paddle-ball (Rugby fives with table tennis bats). 1973Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 20 May 2/2 Our daughter..gets blisters on her soles after a hard game of tennis or paddle ball. 1975Listener 9 Oct. 484/1 A cinquantaine sportive concern to keep fit through paddle ball at the Downtown Club.
1864Webster, *Paddle-beam. 1869E. J. Reed Shipbuild. xv. 278 Paddle-boxes are usually built upon a framing, of which the paddlebeams form the athwartship, and the spring-beams the longitudinal boundaries.
1790Rumsey Patent Specif. No. 1738 The floats or *paddle-boards..may hang on hinges. 1830Kater & Lardner Mech. xiv. 179 In the paddle-wheel..the power is the resistance which the water offers to the motion of the paddle⁓boards. 1967J. Severson Great Surfing Gloss., Paddleboard, a square-sided, hollow surfcraft usually constructed of plywood. 1968Surfer Mag. Jan. 56/1 He surfed a hollow paddle board that he made at home. 1974‘R. B. Dominic’ Epitaph for Lobbyist xvi. 139 He was going to find time for healthful exercise—paddle-board, or a few turns in the pool.
1833Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. 1 June 140/2 The captain now takes his station on the *paddle-box. 1837Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 13/1 Her extreme breadth athwart the paddle-boxes 46 feet. 1879Black Macleod of D. xxxix. 351 When we get on to the paddle-box..he will not know what to do to welcome you! 1908G. B. Shaw Let. 31 Dec. (1972) II. 823 Charlotte wrecked it [sc. the car] the first day. The professional kept her in countenance by knocking off the paddle-box against the gate. a1936Kipling Something of Myself (1937) iv. 102, I saw..a woman crouching on the paddle-box of a crowded boat. 1976P. Lovesey Swing, swing Together xxxvii. 175 A coat of white paint on the paddle-box, lifeboats and funnel.
1859F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 133 *Paddle⁓box boats answer extremely well. c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 9 Paddle-box boats stow on the top of the paddle boxes.
1946Amer. Speech XXI. 34/2 *Paddlefeet.., Infantrymen. 1948Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. II. 727 The airmen..use many derisory terms in speaking of themselves..e.g.,..paddlefoot..for a member of the ground crew. 1950Life 2 Jan. 98/2 Murray was a paddlefoot in Europe. 1957New Yorker 23 Nov. 67/3 A paddlefoot mess officer in North Africa. 1960Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 372/1 Paddlefoot.., an infantry soldier.
1933Flight 2 Feb. 107/2 Our Berlin correspondent indicates that the Rohrbach ‘*paddle plane’ has the circumferential speed of the paddles approximately equal to the top speed. 1950Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) i. 30 Cyclogyro (paddle⁓plane).
1815Dickenson Patent Specif. No. 3932 A small pinnion upon the *paddle-shaft. 1837Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 55/1 Each paddle-shaft, after being turned, weighs 6½ tons. 1895Model Steam Engine 72 Motion is imparted to the paddles by connecting the top of the piston-rods directly with the cranks on the paddle-shaft.
1925Playground Mar. 710/1 He secured permission from Park Commissioner Francis B. Gallatin to mark several *paddle tennis courts in Washington Square Park. 1944F. G. Menke Encycl. Sports (rev. ed.) 490 Frank P. Beal..originated Paddle Tennis in 1924 to provide children with a game that would teach them the rudiments of tennis. 1972N.Y. Times 3 Nov. 22/4 (Advt.), A new recreational facility featuring tennis, paddletennis..and a barbeque and picnic area with charming pavilion has been completed.
1883Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 373/1 The skins are now a second time washed in the ‘*paddle-tumbler’, first in cold and then in tepid water.
1903L. A. Flemming Pract. Tanning 23 Sheepskins are also very satisfactorily tanned with one-bath chrome liquors in *paddle-vats.
1924H. A. Tripp Shoalwater & Fairway vii. 128 That Belle steamer was a mine-sweeper in the War, and jolly useful they found the old excursion *paddle-wheelers. 1970S. Trueman Intimate Hist. New Brunswick vi. 83 He built the Reindeer, a paddlewheeler that easily outraced bigger and fancier river boats. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 13 Mar. 8/1 (Advt.), Return to heartland America aboard the legendary paddlewheeler Delta Queen, or the luxurious new Mississippi Queen.
1866Treas. Bot. 103/2 Aspidosperma excelsum, called by the colonists *Paddle-wood, is remarkable for its singularly fluted trunk, composed of solid projecting radii, which the Indians use as ready-made planks.
▪ II. ˈpaddle, n.2 Sc.
Also 6 paddill, padill, 8–9 padle, paidle.
[Origin unknown: Jamieson compares haf-podde ‘sea-toad’, a name mentioned by Schoneveld.]
The common Lump-fish, Cyclopterus lumpus; also called paddle-cock, cock-paddle.
1591Aberdeen Recds. in Cadenhead New Bk. of Bon Acc. (1866) 64 Partins and paddillis, with other sort of schell fish. 1601Holland Pliny II. 428 The Lompe, Paddle or sea-Owle. 1805G. Barry Orkney Isl. iii. i. 295 The Lump Fish (cyclopterus lumpus..), here denominated the Paddle, frequents the harbours and sand-banks. 1810Neill List Fishes 23 (Jam.) The male (called by our fishermen Cock⁓paddle), is for the table, at the season, much preferable to the female, (the Hush, Hen-paddle, and in Fife the Bagaty). 1838Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. 174 The Paidle spawns towards the end of March. 1882Ogilvie, Paddle-cock, a name given in the north of Scotland to the lump-fish.
▪ III. paddle, n.3 Sc.
[? dim. of pad n.4]
1. A little leather bag.
a1568Wowing of Jok & Jynny vii. (Bannatyne MS.), Ane auld pannell of ane laid sadill, Ane pepper polk maid of a padill. 1887Suppl. to Jamieson, Padell, Paidle, Peddle, lit. a little pad or pack: a small leathern bag, pouch, or wallet used by packmen;..also, the leathern pouch worn by country housewives.
2. Usu. in form paidle. (See quots.) Also attrib.
1879Cases Court of Session, Scotl. (ser. 4) VI. 1324 Nets..often have also a barrel-shaped trap or paidle attached to them. 1882Ibid. IX. 186 The respondents..earn part of their living by fishing on the shores of the Solway by means of small stake-nets, locally called ‘paidle-nets’. 1895Daily News 5 July 5/3 The nets are set at low-water point,..and have pockets or ‘paidles’ in the corners, into which the fish, mostly flounders, are carried with the ebbing tide..of the Solway.
▪ IV. ˈpaddle, n.4
[f. paddle v.1]
†1. Fuss, ado. rare.
1642Rogers Naaman 865 That paddle and adoe which you have made to soder and play the Hypocrite.
2. (Also Sc. paiddle, paidle.) An act of paddling in mud or shallow water.
1866W. Gregor Dial. Banffshire 121 The twa bairns keepit a paidle..in the lint-cobble, catchin' wattir-horse. 1880Longmuir & Donaldson Jamieson's Etym. Dict. Scottish Lang. (rev. ed.) III. 430/1 We..had a gran' paidle in the saut watter. 1896A. M. Bisset Poets Linlithgowshire 188 But woe to the imp that..damm'd up the burn for a paiddle or wade. 1942‘N. Shute’ Pied Piper v. 106 Wouldn't you like to take your shoes off and have a paddle, then? 1976Morecambe Guardian 7 Dec. 25/7 They decided to go for a swim and walked into the sea first for a paddle.
▪ V. ˈpaddle, n.5
[f. paddle v.2]
The act of paddling, or of rowing lightly. at the paddle, at the rate one moves when paddling; with easy rowing. Comb. paddle-over [after walk-over], an easy victory in a boat race.
1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ii. (1889) 11 An old hand just going out for a gentle paddle. 1882H. De Windt Equator 97 We arrived..at the mouth of the Sarawak river,..after a hard paddle. 1897Daily News 13 Mar. 6/5 The practice consisted of a paddle down to the Hurlingham and back..to the Leander Hard..stopping short of Hammersmith, and coming back at the paddle to Putney. 1906Westm. Gaz. 4 July 5/1 Little more than a paddle⁓over for the Cambridge men.
▪ VI. paddle, v.1|ˈpæd(ə)l|
Also 6 paddyll, 7 padle, 8–9 Sc. paidle, 9– dial. (in sense 4) poddle |ˈpɒd(ə)l|.
[Origin obscure: the form is dim. and frequentative.
The radical appears to be the same as in pad v.2, though only sense 4 seems directly derived from that. Cf. LG. paddeln to tramp about (Danneil), from padjen, pedden to tread. The special association of the word with mire or water in sense 1 is not explained.]
I.
1. intr. To walk or move the feet about in mud or shallow water; to wade about in play or for pleasure; to dabble with the feet, or the feet and hands, in shallow water.
1530Palsgr. 651/1, I paddyll in the myre, as duckes do or yonge chyldren, Je pestille. I pray the, se howe yonder lytell boye padleth in the myre,..pestille en la boue. 1611Cotgr., Patouiller, to slabber; to padle, or dable in with the feet; to stirre vp and downe, and trouble, or make foule, by stirring. 1637G. Daniel Genius of Isle 164 Whole Shoales of Carren Crowes,..Paddle in the warme blood of people slaine. 1655Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. iii. §7 Could those infernal Fiends..take any Pleasure, by padling here in Puddles. 1706Phillips, To Paddle, to move the Water with Hands or Feet, to dabble. 1781Cowper Retirem. 499 Ducks paddle in the pond before the door. 1788Burns Auld Lang Syne iii, We twa hae paidl't i' the burn, From mornin sun till dine. 1816Scott Antiq. xi, Paddling in a pool among the rocks. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xiv. 33 The second mate..has to roll up his trousers and paddle about the decks barefooted. 1848Thackeray Trav. Lond. Wks. 1886 XXIV. 350 Look at the shabby children paddling through the slush. 1880W. S. Gilbert Pirates i, Suppose we take off our shoes and stockings and paddle.
fig.1621Quarles Esther viii, That take delight To bathe, and paddle in the blood of those Whom jealousies..oppose. 1635― Embl. i. Invoc. (1718) 2 Wherein Thy childrens leprous fingers, scurf'd with sin, Have paddled. 1703Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. 78 An odd sort of bog for fancy to paddle in. 1870Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 239 Boys and girls who paddled in rhyme or dabbled in sentiment.
2. a. intr. To play or dabble idly or fondly (in, on, with, or about something) with the fingers; to toy.
1602Shakes. Ham. iii. iv. 185 And let him [the King] for a paire of reechie kisses, Or padling in your necke with his damn'd Fingers, Make you to rauell all this matter out. 1604― Oth. ii. i. 259 Didst thou not see her paddle with the palme of his hand? 1746Exmoor Courtship 374 (E.D.S.) He takes hold of her and paddles in her Neck and Bosom. 1824Galt Rothelan i. vii, Adonijah..paddled, as it were unconsciously, with his fingers on the gems. 1837Thackeray Ravenswing v, He..let her keep paddling on with his hand.
†b. trans. To finger idly, playfully, or fondly.
1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 115 To be padling Palmes, and pinching Fingers, As now they are, and making practis'd Smiles As in a Looking-Glasse. 1622in Arber Story of Pilgr. Fathers 414 There was also a heap of sand..newly done. We might see how they had paddled it with their hands.
†3.
a. trans. To trifle away, waste, squander.
b. intr. To trifle; to deal in a petty trifling way. (Cf. peddle, piddle.) Obs.
1616J. Deacon Tobacco Tortured 62 Tell me in good sadnesse, whether it be not a superfluous waste, for any man of great place, to paddle forth yearely one hundred pounds at the least, for an hundred gallons of filthy fumes? a1620J. Dyke Sel. Serm. (1640) 160 Hee may be padling with these playsters and poulteyses that men in the world seeke ease by. 1642Rogers Naaman 176 Eating and drinking, padling in the world or about carnall objects. 1840Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 86 In the small way, they keep a perpetual paddling with the poor man's drink.
II.
4. a. intr. To walk with short, unsteady, or uncertain steps, like those of a child; to toddle.
1792Burns The Deuk's Dang o'er my Daddie i, He paidles out, and he paidles in, An' he paidles late and early, O. 1805Andr. Scott Poems (1808) 164 Aff the spat she wadna stir, But prance an' paidle. c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. III. 286 Old Sandy paddled away from the stable towards the house. 1836T. Hook G. Gurney III. 176, I hear the sound of feet pattering and paddling over the floor. 1860Thackeray Four Georges iii. (1876) 66 A hundred little children are paddling up and down the steps to St. James's Park. 1908H. G. Wells War in Air iii. 72 Then he got up, paddled about, rearranged the ballast bags on the floor,..and turned over the maps on the locker. 1970F. Durbridge P. Temple & Harkdale Robbery v. 51 Tam Coley paddled cheerfully out [of the room] with a nod to Paul.
1827J. Clare Shepherd's Calendar 69 The ruddy child, nursed in the lap of care,..Beside its mother poddles o'er the land. 1842C. Ridley Let. 5 Mar. in Cecilia (1958) vii. 89, I..spend a great deal of time in poddling about the garden. 1869R. D. Blackmore Lorna Doone I. x. 109 Now I am uncommonly fond of ducks..and it is a fine sight to behold them walk, poddling one after other. 1976Scollins & Titford Ey up, mi Duck! I. 59 Poddlin', walking; implies a comical gait. Usually describes a small child, or a little old man, etc. As in: ‘Eh wer poddlin' along wi'aht a care int wold!’
b. trans. (in dial. use). (a) To trample down by treading over; to mark with wet or muddy feet. (b) To lead or support a child learning to walk.
1805Stagg Misc. Poems 144 (E.D.D.) Sauntrin' pace the paddled green. 1824Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 371 These circular spots then shorn of grass are termed paddled rounalls. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Paddle, to support or lead a child by the hand in its first attempt to walk. 1877Holderness Gloss., Paddle, to trample over, tread down. 1889N.W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., Them bairns hes been paddlin yon clean floor fra end to end.
5. Comb. paddle-pond, a pond in which children may paddle.
1930Time & Tide 14 Feb. 195/2 He saw that these spaces were..empty, and he resolved that some..of them should be filled; hence the goal-posts and paddle-ponds.
Hence ˈpaddling vbl. n.1 (in Comb., paddling pool) and ppl. a.1
1642Rogers Naaman 367 How shall I speake to this wofull place for the padling out of her season of ease? 1679Jas. Polley Will, Pay all my small padling debts. 1714Gay Sheph. Week v. 155 While padling ducks the standing lake desire. 1828Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Paddling-strings, strings fixed to the frock of a young child to assist it in walking. 1840[see sense 3]. 1884Athenæum 22 Nov. 652/1 This undignified paddling recalls the fairy days of childhood, when paddling itself was a venturesome feat. 1895Crockett Men of Moss-Hags I. 358 A paidling bairn of seven years. 1932T. Sharp Town & Countryside x. 204 These playgrounds should be equipped with swings,..and a sand-pit and perhaps a paddling pool. 1958Listener 6 Nov. 727/1 Children's paddling pools. 1972Guardian 1 Aug. 15/6 Emma went to the crèche-playgroup where there were swings, slides, books, a paddling-pool, a Wendy-house.
▪ VII. paddle, v.2
[f. paddle n.1]
I.
1. a. intr. To move on the water by means of paddles, as in a canoe. Also said of the canoe.
1677I. Hubbard Narrative 129 He accidentally met with a Canooe..turned adrift, by which means he padled by some shift or other so farr out of the harbour. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. xiii, I saw them..row (or paddle, as we call it) all away. 1751J. Bartram Observ. Trav. Pennsylv., etc. 17 We borrowed a canoe, and paddled up the West branch. 1784Cook's Voy. I. iv. 141 We had not long anchored, when two canoes paddled towards us. 1853W. Irving in Life & Lett. (1864) I. iii. 60 Paddling with them in Indian canoes on the limpid waters of the St. Lawrence.
b. transf. To row with oars lightly or gently; technically applied to the rowing of a racing crew when not exerting their full power.
1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 247 Because they would not be heard, they hal'd in their Oars, and paddled as softly as if they [etc.]. 1737M. Green Spleen 369 He paddling by the scuffling crowd, Sees unconcern'd life's wager row'd. 1842Bell's Life 31 July 1/5 (Eton v. Westminster), The competitors paddled to their stations. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xi. (1889) 97 Being summoned to the boat, they took to the water again, and paddled steadily up home. 1866Oxf. Undergr. Jrnl. 18 Apr. 38 Paddled to Barnes Railway Bridge, and rowed hard from there back to Hammersmith.
c. Of a paddle-steamer, etc.: To move by means of paddle-wheels.
1844W. H. Maxwell Sports & Adv. Scotl. xxxv. (1855) 279 The ‘Sovereign’ was paddling out of the harbour. 1847Tennyson Princ. Prol. 71 Round the lake A little clock⁓work steamer paddling plied And shook the lilies.
d. Of birds or other animals: To move in the water with paddle-like limbs. Hence paddling-crab = paddle-crab: see paddle n.1 12.
2. a. trans. To propel (a canoe, boat, etc.) by means of a paddle or paddles; also, to transport (a person) in a canoe.
1784J. Belknap Tour to White Mts. (1876) 20 Our horses swam after a canoe, in which..an old woman paddled us over. 1863F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia 54, I met many of them paddling themselves in their slight canoes. 1875T. W. Higginson Hist. U.S. iii. 17 The canoes were very light, and could be paddled with ease.
b. Phr. to paddle one's own canoe, to make one's way by one's own exertions.
1828J. Hall Lett from West 261 It seems that they were not so well skilled in navigation as the Lady of the Lake, who ‘paddled her own canoe’ very dexterously. 1834W. G. Simms Guy Rivers II. 225 He guessed therefore, best haul off, and each..‘must paddle his own canoe’. 1844Marryat Settlers in Canada viii, I think that it much better that as we all go along together, that every man paddle his own canoe. 1854Sarah T. Bolton Song ‘Paddle Your Own Canoe’ i, Where'er your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe. 1887Harper's Mag. Mar. 547/1 They couldn't see how he was to paddle his canoe all alone by himself. 1924[see bunch v.2 1 c]. 1924M. Kennedy Constant Nymph xvii. 232 Why can't she leave the fellow to paddle his own canoe? 1949Time 4 July 25/2 They seem more interested in paddling their own canoes than shaping a strong third force that would be the best weapon against the communism they all hate.
II.
3. trans. To beat (a person) with a paddle or the like; to ‘spank’, ‘smack’. U.S.
1856Olmsted Slave States 189, I thought it was..sulkiness, so I paddled him, and made him go to work. 1896Stevenson Weir of Hermiston iv. 108 She had known him in the cradle and paddled him when he misbehaved. 1919L. F. Cody Memories Buffalo Bill 31, I had started from the porch to paddle every one of them [sc. the children]. 1976‘D. Halliday’ Dolly & Nanny Bird iv. 48 The first thing a Maggie Bee nurse does in any British household is to ask the mother if she minds if the offspring get paddled from time to time.
4. To use a paddle, in various special senses of the n.: (a) to stir or mix (molten ore) with a paddle; (b) to wash or dye (leather) by means of a paddle; (c) to stir (the lye in soap-making) with a paddle.
1873E. Spon Workshop Receipts (ser. 1) 382/2 The paddling should be continued until a ring drawn with the spatula may be recognized. 1874J. A. Phillips Elem. Metallurgy 544 The pot-skimmings..are now thrown into the furnace and well paddled with the charge. 1909H. G. Bennett Manuf. Leather 171 When a quick and even colouring is desired..the goods may be paddled in the first liquors.
5. To use (something) like a paddle.
1929W. Deeping Roper's Row xxxii. 363 He spread his table napkin, and finding the soup too hot, paddled his spoon in it.
Hence paddling vbl. n.2 and ppl. a.2
1719De Foe Crusoe i. x, I was..fatigu'd with Rowing, or Paddling, as it is called. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho xxix, Lazy paddlings through the still lagoons. 1856Olmsted Slave States 189, I sent them word to give him a good paddling, and handcuff him, and send him back to the rail⁓road. 1874J. A. Phillips Elem. Metallurgy 542 The alternate raking and paddling of the charge is continued at regular intervals. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. viii. ii. §1. 648 Paddling is the portal to excellence in rowing of all kinds. 1888L. A. Smith Music of Waters 325 The following is a specimen of the paddling-songs, which really form the principal water-music of the Tonga Islands. 1894Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 422/1 A small fleet of paddling canoes and row-boats. 1953P. Provencher I live in Woods i. 6 The crews commenced a lively paddling song on quitting the shore. |