To engage in trivial or fussy activity; to waste time on insignificant matters or nonsense.
Origin uncertain, possibly related to 'fiddle' or derived from dialectal English. May be connected to 'fad' through similar uncertain etymologies, or might share roots with words meaning 'to fuss' or 'to fumble.'
Faddle is a delightfully unusual word that English borrowed from dialectal speech and now uses mostly in the phrase 'fiddlefaddle,' showing how language recycles obsolete or regional words by pairing them with similar-sounding companions for emphasis.
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