Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To move (a small child) up and down on the knees or in the arms in a playful way: "Somebody who was dandled on Queen Victoria's knee must appear an old fogy” ( Edward, Duke of Windsor).
- v. To pamper or pet.
- n. Narragansett Bay See seesaw. See Regional Note at teeter-totter.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To shake or move up and down in the arms or on the knee, as a nurse tosses or trots an infant; amuse by play.
- Hence To fondle or make much of; treat as a child; pet; amuse.
- To play or trifle with; put off with cajolery or trifling excuses; wheedle; cajole.
- To defer or protract by trifles.
Wiktionary
- v. To move up and down on one’s knee or in one’s arms, in affectionate play, as an infant.
- v. To treat with fondness, as if a child; to fondle; to toy with; to pet.
- v. obsolete To play with; to put off or delay by trifles; to wheedle.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play, as an infant.
- v. To treat with fondness, as if a child; to fondle; to toy with; to pet.
- v. obsolete To play with; to put off or delay by trifles; to wheedle.
WordNet 3.0
- v. move (a baby) up and down in one's arms or on one's knees
- v. pet.
Etymologies
- Compare German dändeln ("to trifle, dandle"), Old Dutch and Provincial German danten, German tand ("trifle, prattle"); Scots dandill ("dander, to go about idly, to trifle"). (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And as I recline next to Lillian Hellman, I dandle Miss Kathie's adopted baby on my knee.”
“Society existed to dandle them and indulge their fantasies.”
Adam Hanft: Anniversary Irony: How the Woodstock Generation is Sabotaging Health Care Reform
“(Mother pandas constantly dandle their infants for the same reason.)”
“There was much happiness—Arthur now had a plump baby daughter, Mary, to dandle on his knee—and, thanks to Sherlock Holmes, the wherewithal to do a “proper” Christmas, with all the trimmings.”
“Three died under our dirks, but the fourth survives; and more would he give to dandle on his knee the fourth child which remains, than to rack these old bones, which care little for the utmost indulgence of his wrath.”
“If there were but a few more little masters to dandle and fondle,”
“She was going to dandle her grandkids on her knees, and they live in far-away Allentown.”
“Ah, Robot Helena, your body will never be a living thing, you will never be anyone's lover, never anyone's mother; those perfect hands of yours will never dandle a newborn babe and you'll never see your beauty in the face of your own children ....”
“Did not Mr. Binny, the mild and genteel curate of the district chapel, which the family attended, call assiduously upon the widow, dandle the little boy on his knee, and offer to teach him Latin, to the anger of the elderly virgin, his sister, who kept house for him?”
“Major occasionally to dandle him, need not be told here.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dandle’.
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FUN - Jeeves and Wooster - Wooster
"Woosterisms" as heard from the character " Wooster" in P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves and Wooster" stories.
be potty about, be tutted at, biff, big fella, bit of a cropper, blighter, blot, By gee!, By gosh!, By gum!, chilled steel, chokey and 115 more...
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Knee-ded Words
In honor (?) of John
aknee, anomalogonatous, anticnemion, bainberg, bandy-jig, besagne, bight, bott, knee, breast-knee, cartilage, cnemapophysis and 155 more...
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Noodle and such
noodle, ladle, middle, model, muddle, addle, paddle, piddle, dreidel, toddle, poodle, streudel and 16 more...
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Article's related words
reading 2 articles a week and here will reference unknown words, weekly!
fervor, belie, inure, hiatus, ambivalent, chasten, revere, despise, expurgate, edify, neologism, inchoate and 13 more...
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the trial of the wasps
The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!
quixotic, shattered, extravagant, warmth, courage, indomitable, spunky, unscathed, valiant, plucky, protagonist, antagonist and 27 more...
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VNCle
N stands for 'nasal', not 'n'
pimple, bungle, spindle, handle, amble, humble, simple, dimple, winkle, tinkle, single, dingle and 53 more...
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work these into conversation
Challenge!
legerdemain, polysemic, rupestrian, callipygian, oscitancy, numen, lucubration, asperity, amalgam, apposite, wastrel, eleemosynary and 208 more...
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lester
sargasso, monolithic, idioms, nascent, sonances, arrhythmic, pap, dilettantish, fuzztone, effete, morass, waxed and 92 more...
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I, Claudius
Words taken from I, Claudius by Robert Graves.
evocation, aureus, sestertii, denarii, assegai, pilum, framea, sibyl, propitiatory, duenna, tyrannicide, maggoty and 136 more...
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schinders's Words
persiflage, preterition, quidnunc, finick, termagant, otiose, magniloquent, weltschmerz, schadenfreude, piehole, malevolent, susurrus and 132 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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The Last Werewolf
This novel by Glen Duncan, aside from being a ripping yarn and beautifully written, is just littered with words that I had to look up and discover that often his use of the word not only fitted per...
gurns, bok, chimney breast, dichotomy, Platonic form, filthy, Platonic Form, mathematics, BAM, skirls, clarity, blundering and 298 more...
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Professional Scrabble Lexicon (TWL)
A myriad of game-changing words every Scrabble addict must have in his arsenal.
Keep in mind that these are all tried-and-true feasibly playable words selected for their handiness, i.e...paragon, pignora, ganef, suttee, origan, ohia, aioli, abasement, lehr, mho, tallow, harelike and 843 more...
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Words that delight me
tepid, perfunctory, trope, benign, inordinate, bewildering, ersatz, boon, delectable, apt, scuttlebutt, sequester and 398 more...
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Jane Eyre
abigail, sanguine, chancel, bourne, peremptorily, parley, unwonted, fagging, convolvuli, tarry, insuperable, execrations and 190 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, D
dodecahedron, din, diglyceride, dysphotopsia, decoction, deboss, diatonic, dithyramb, divagate, discalced, dishdasha, daft and 281 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dandle.

Louises Once you can manage the hunger, whet and dandle and tease, you want the shortest possible time between werewolf crime and human flight. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan. Mar 18, 2012
yarb They had not the slightest suspicion of the trick; and were eternally dandling me till I was seven years old.
- Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 1 ch. 5 Sep 11, 2008