quiddle
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- verb To spend or waste time in trifling employments, or to attend to useful subjects in a trifling or superficial manner; be of a trifling, time-wasting character.
- noun One who quiddles, or busies himself about, trifles. Also quiddler.
Examples
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She liked to quiddle about the china-closet, prepare the salt-cellars, put the spoons straight on the table; and every day went round the parlor with her brush, dusting chairs and tables.
Little Men: Life at Plumfield With Jo's Boys, by Louisa May Alcott
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"I always fret him, he says, and it isn't my fault if I am a quiddle," protested Steve, in self-defence.
Note
The word 'quiddle' comes from the Latin 'quid', meaning 'what'.
