footle

footle
footle (v.) "to trifle," 1892, from dialectal footer "to trifle," footy "mean, paltry" (1752), perhaps from Fr. se foutre "to care nothing," from O.Fr. foutre "to fuck," from L. futuere, originally "to strike, thrust" (Cf. confute). But OED derives the English dialect words from foughty (c.1600), from Du. vochtig or Dan. fugtig "damp, musty;" related to FOG (Cf. fog).

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • footle — ► VERB chiefly Brit. ▪ engage in fruitless activity; mess about. ORIGIN perhaps from FOOTER(Cf. ↑footer) …   English terms dictionary

  • footle — [fo͞ot′ l, foot′ l] vi. footled, footling [altered (prob. after FUTILE) < dial. footer, to trifle < Fr foutre, orig., to copulate with < L futuere < IE * bhaut < base * bhau > BEAT] [Informal, Chiefly Brit.] to act or talk… …   English World dictionary

  • footle — UK [ˈfuːt(ə)l] / US [ˈfut(ə)l] verb [intransitive] Word forms footle : present tense I/you/we/they footle he/she/it footles present participle footling past tense footled past participle footled informal to waste time doing things that are not… …   English dictionary

  • footle — intransitive verb (footled; footling) Etymology: probably alteration of footer to waste time Date: 1892 1. to talk or act foolishly 2. to waste time ; trifle, fool • footle noun • footler noun …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • footle — foo|tle [ futl ] verb intransitive INFORMAL footle around/about to waste time doing things that are not important or necessary …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • footle — To briefly investigate or examine. From archaeology, when a trowel is used to quickly dig a small portion of a deposit to determine its nature and likely origin I don t know if this is a refuse pit or not. Let me just have a quick footle …   Dictionary of american slang

  • footle — To briefly investigate or examine. From archaeology, when a trowel is used to quickly dig a small portion of a deposit to determine its nature and likely origin I don t know if this is a refuse pit or not. Let me just have a quick footle …   Dictionary of american slang

  • footle — verb footle around/about to waste time doing unimportant things when you should be working …   Longman dictionary of contemporary English

  • footle about — verb To pass time doing unimportant things; messing around. Syn: footle around, mess around, mess about …   Wiktionary

  • footle away — verb To waste time. Syn: footle about …   Wiktionary

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