poodle

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Pudel,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} a word recorded in German from the 18th century and originally regional, Low German,^[2] shortened from Pudelhund (“water dog”),^[3][4][7][6] which the OED dates to the 17th century.^[2] Its first element is Low German pudeln (“to splash about in water”),^[5][6][8][9] related to puddle,^[10][11][3] and the second is Hund (“dog”), related to hound.^[3][9] The dog was so called because it was a water dog, probably used at first to hunt water fowl.^{[3][4][10][9]} Klein takes pudeln to be imitative, like Old English pudd (“ditch, puddle”);^[7] Skeat instead connected it with a Low German verb of that form in the sense "to waddle", said of fat people and short-legged animals.^[12] The German word was also borrowed as Dutch poedel (1804), Swedish pudel and Danish pudel.^[2][10] The OED notes that a dog of Prince Rupert's called Puddle in a pamphlet of 1643 may or may not show earlier use of the German word, since the prince's dog seems in fact to have been called Boye.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The breed of curly-haired dog: 1773, in R. Morris's diary: "Bought a poodle Black Dog."^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives the same year,^[11] Etymonline 1808,^[3] and Barnhart 1825, in Bulwer-Lytton's Falkland.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Although bred as a water dog, the poodle in England and America was from the start mainly a small fancy or toy dog with long curly hair.^[3][10] A shaggy cloth like its coat was called poodle from 1827,^[2][11] and the verb, to clip or shave hair in the poodle style, or to curl it, followed in 1828.^[2] British army slang had poodle-faker for an ingratiating man from 1902,^[3] and in 1907 Lloyd George told the Commons that the House of Lords was the opposition leader's poodle, fetching and carrying for him: the source of the chiefly British sense "lackey".^[2][3] Slang added a sausage (1908), a play on hot dog, and in New Zealand any pet dog.^[13] Since 1938 the verb has also meant to move about in a leisurely way, a use the OED compares with the later pootle.^[2][13]

Timeline

• 1773 – the breed of dog.^[2][11]
• 1827 – a shaggy cloth like a poodle's coat.^[2]
• 1828 – verb, to clip or curl hair like a poodle's.^[2]
• 1907 – figuratively, a servile follower, a lackey.^[2][3]
• 1908 – slang, a sausage.^[13]
• 1938 – verb, to move or travel in a leisurely way.^[2][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. A breed of active, intelligent dog with a dense, curly coat, kept in standard, miniature and toy sizes, originally bred to retrieve waterfowl.^[11][9][2]
2. (chiefly British, derogatory) A person who follows or obeys another without question, especially in politics; a lackey: The minister was mocked as the president's poodle.^[9][2][3]
3. (rare) A curly-surfaced woollen cloth like a poodle's coat.^[11][2]

Verb

1. To clip the hair of something in a short, curly style like a poodle's.^[11][2]
2. (informal) To move or travel in a leisurely or aimless way: We poodled along the coast road all afternoon.^[2][14][13]

Word family

• cockapoo
• peekapoo
• toy poodle

Related words

• puddle
• hound
• pootle

Usage notes

In old Scots, poodle was also a word for the small spade used to clear earth from a ploughshare, recorded in Renfrewshire.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b c d e Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
14. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)