Fuddle
//ˈfʌdəl// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Intoxication. countable, uncountable
- 2 a confused multitude of things wordnet
- 3 Intoxicating drink; liquor. uncountable
- 4 Muddle, confusion. countable, uncountable
- 5 A party or picnic where attendees bring food and wine; a kind of potluck. Derbyshire, UK, countable, dialectal, uncountable
"Yesterday we were invited to a fuddle. This is a new word & was a new experience for us. Very pleasant it was too."
Verb
- 1 To confuse or befuddle. transitive
"She's fuddled my fancy, she's muddled me good / I've taken to drinking, and given up food"
- 2 be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly wordnet
- 3 To intoxicate. transitive
"If an author fuddles himself, I don’t know why he should be let off a headache the next morning […]"
- 4 consume alcohol wordnet
- 5 To become intoxicated; to get drunk. intransitive
"Pipes I blew, on malt I fuddled, / A lushy man! / Till my mind and head got muddled, / Dissipated man!"
Show 1 more definition
- 6 make stupid with alcohol wordnet
Example
More examples"She's fuddled my fancy, she's muddled me good / I've taken to drinking, and given up food"
Etymology
Compare Dutch vod (“soft”), German dialect fuddeln (“to swindle”).
Related phrases
More for "fuddle"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.