dottle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒtəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Rhymes: -ɒtəl

Etymology 1

From Middle English dottel, dottelle (“a plug or tap of a vessel”), a diminutive of Old English dott (> English dot (“a point”)), equivalent to dot +‎ -le. Related to Old English dyttan (“to stop up, clot”), Dutch dot (“a knot, lump, clod”), Low German Dutte (“a plug”). More at dit.

Alternative forms

• dottel

Noun

dottle (plural dottles)

1. A plug or tap of a vessel.
2. A small rounded lump or mass.
3. The still burning or wholly burnt tobacco plug in a pipe.
   • 1892, Richard Oliver Heslop, Northumberland Words. English Dialect Society - Kegan Paul et al.

     In refilling a pipe, where twist is smoked, a common practice is to save the dottle and put it on the top of the new-filled pipe. "Aw like a baccy dottle to leet wiv."

   • 1957, Lawrence Durrell, Justine, Faber, page 96:

     one hand guards the burning dottle of my pipe from the force of the wind

   • 1981, John Gardner, Freddy's Book, Abacus, published 1982, page 38:

     I clenched my pipe in my right fist and poked at the dottle busily with various fingers, first one then another, of my left hand.

   • 1984, Alan Dean Foster, The Hour of the Gate, page 89:

     He tapped out the dottle on the deck, locked the steering oar in position, and commenced repacking his pipe.

   • 2010, Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles:

     I fiddle and scrape and poke for a while, banging out the dottle from my previous pipeful into an ashtray and puffing down the stem like a horn player warming up his trumpet.

4. (Geordie) A baby's dummy, pacifier.

Translations

still burning or wholly burnt tobacco plug in a pipe

• Finnish: piipunperskat (fi)
• German: Tabakrest m (remains)
• Irish: cnámhóg thobac f, gríodán tobac m
• Romanian: șanț (ro) n (Transylvania; remains)

References

• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “dottle”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 2024-09-05.
• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “DOTTLE”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN.
• Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4

Etymology 2

Related to dote, dotard.

Adjective

dottle (comparative more dottle, superlative most dottle)

1. (Scotland) Stupid or senile.
   • 1893, David Herschell Edwards, One Hundred Modern Scottish Poets: With Biographical and Critical Notices, volume 15, page 403:

     When days and years proclaim you’re old —
      A dottle, cripple, gouty fellow,
     Then for support you can lay hold
      O’ the upright of your umberella.

Noun

dottle (plural dottles)

1. (Scotland) A dotard.

Synonyms

• dodipole, dotel; see also Thesaurus:dotard

Anagrams

• Dettol, lotted, tolted