I. ˈfəd ə l verb
( fuddled ; fuddled ; fuddling -d( ə )liŋ ; fuddles )
Etymology: origin unknown
intransitive verb
: to take part in a drinking bout : tipple
then there's fuddling about in the public houses, and drinking bad spirits — Thomas Hughes
transitive verb
1. : to make drunk : intoxicate
she would fuddle herself every night with ale and whiskey — Richard Free
2. : to make confused : muddle
corridors, archways, recesses … combined to fuddle any sense of direction — Elizabeth Bowen
3. : to make (a fish) torpid : stupefy
catch a trout by fuddling him — A.A.Horn
II. noun
( -s )
1. obsolete : liquor
we sipped our fuddle — Ned Ward
2. : intoxication
a venerable toper … whom the oldest inhabitant had never seen otherwise than in a state of benevolent fuddle — Norman Douglas
3. chiefly Britain : a prolonged drinking spell — used especially in the phrase on the fuddle
4. : a confused mixture : jumble
in front of a side altar a fuddle of candles burned — Bruce Marshall