noo·dle

1 [nood-l]
noun
a narrow strip of unleavened egg dough that has been rolled thin and dried, boiled, and served alone or in soups, casseroles, etc.; a ribbon-shaped pasta.

Origin:
1770–80; < German Nudel

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noo·dle

2 [nood-l]
noun
1.
Slang. the head.
2.
a fool or simpleton.

Origin:
1745–55; perhaps variant of noddle (with oo from fool)

00:10
Noodle is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

noo·dle

3 [nood-l] verb, noo·dled, noo·dling.
verb (used without object)
1.
to improvise a musical passage in a casual manner, especially as a warm-up exercise.
2.
Informal.
a.
to play; toy: to noodle with numbers as a hobby.
b.
to improvise, experiment, or think creatively: The writers noodled for a week and came up with a better idea for the ad campaign.
verb (used with object)
3.
Informal.
a.
to manipulate or tamper with: She denied that she had noodled the statistics to get a favorable result.
b.
to make or devise freely as an exercise or experiment (sometimes followed by up ): The architects noodled up a model of a solar house.
4.
noodle around, Informal. to play, experiment, or improvise.

Origin:
1935–40, Americanism; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To noodle
Collins
World English Dictionary
noodle1 (ˈnuːdəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
(often plural) a ribbon-like strip of pasta: noodles are often served in soup or with a sauce
 
[C18: from German Nudel, origin obscure]

noodle2 (ˈnuːdəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  (US), (Canadian) a slang word for head
2.  a simpleton
 
[C18: perhaps a blend of noddle1 and noodle1]

noodle3 (ˈnuːdəl) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
vb
slang (intr) to improvise aimlessly on a musical instrument

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

noodle
"narrow strip of dried dough," 1779, from Ger. Nudel, of unknown origin. W.Flem. noedel and Fr. nouille are Ger. loan-words. The older noun meaning "simpleton, stupid person" (1753) probably is an unrelated word, as is the slang word for "head" (attested from 1914).

noodle
"improvised music" (n.), 1926, probably from noodle (n.), on analogy of the suppleness of the food and that of the trills and improvised phrases. The verb is first attested 1937 (implied in noodling).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

noodle definition


  1. n.
    (one's) head. : Put your hat on your noodle, and let's go.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

noodle

a cooked egg-and-flour paste prominent in European and Oriental cuisine, generally distinguished from other pasta (q.v.) by its elongated, ribbonlike form. Noodles are commonly used to add body and flavour to broth soups. They are commonly boiled or sauteed and served with sauces and meats or baked in casseroles.

Learn more about noodle with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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Example sentences
Throughout the day, your noodle fills up with adenosine, a chemical thought to
  cause mental fatigue.
My instructions are for a tagliatelle, a noodle rolled fairly thin that is
  about three-eighths of an inch thick.
Follow this with soups such as hot and sour soup or barbecue pork noodle soup.
Round out the menu with edamame and spinach and noodle salads.
Image for noodle
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