Dottle
adj, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A plug or tap of a vessel.
- 2 A dotard. Scotland
- 3 the residue of partially burnt tobacco left caked in the bowl of a pipe after smoking wordnet
- 4 A small rounded lump or mass.
- 5 The still burning or wholly burnt tobacco plug in a pipe.
"1892, Richard Oliver Heslop, Northumberland Words. English Dialect Society - Kegan Paul et al. In refilling a pipe, where twist is smoked, a common practice is to save the dottle and put it on the top of the new-filled pipe. "Aw like a baccy dottle to leet wiv.""
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- 6 A baby's dummy, pacifier. Geordie
- 1 To set pottery flatware horizontally on thimbles.
- 1 Stupid or senile. Scotland
"When days and years proclaim you’re old — A dottle, cripple, gouty fellow, Then for support you can lay hold O’ the upright of your umberella."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"1892, Richard Oliver Heslop, Northumberland Words. English Dialect Society - Kegan Paul et al. In refilling a pipe, where twist is smoked, a common practice is to save the dottle and put it on the top of the new-filled pipe. "Aw like a baccy dottle to leet wiv.""
Etymology
From Middle English dottel, dottelle (“a plug or tap of a vessel”), a diminutive of Old English dott (> English dot (“a point”)), equivalent to dot + -le. Related to Old English dyttan (“to stop up, clot”), Dutch dot (“a knot, lump, clod”), Low German Dutte (“a plug”). More at dit.
Related to dote, dotard.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.