Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Cuddle |
CuddleNoun1. A close and affectionate (and often prolonged) embrace. Verb1. Move or arrange oneself in a comfortable and cozy position; "We cuddled against each other to keep warm"; "The children snuggled into their sleeping bags". 2. Hold (a person or thing) close, as for affection, comfort, or warmth; "I cuddled the baby". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cuddle" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1862. (references) |
Synonyms: CuddleSynonyms: draw close (v), nestle (v), nuzzle (v), snuggle (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Endearment | Clasp, hug, cuddle; fold in one's arms, strain in one's arms; nestle, nuzzle; embrace, kiss, buss, smack, blow a kiss; salute; (courtesy); fold to the heart, press to the bosom. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Cuddle |
| English words defined with "cuddle": Croodle, Cuddled ♦ snogging. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Mommy loves Martin because he is real, and when I am real Mommy's going to read to me and tuck me in my bed and sing to me and listen to what I say and she will cuddle with me and tell me every day a hundred times a day that she loves me (Artificial Intelligence: AI; writing credit: Ian Watson) Men don't like to cuddle. We only like it if it leads to you know lower cuddling (Everybody Loves Raymond; writing credit: Joe Bolster) I want a pet who'll come when I call and cuddle me when I've had a bad day. (Animaniacs; writing credit: Nick Dubois; Peter Hastings) | |
Lyrics | Baby, let's cuddle, 'til the sun comes up (Stay The Night; performing artist: Imx) Now is the time for you and I to cuddle close together (Thriller; performing artist: Michael Jackson) Cuddle up baby, (Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go; performing artist: Wham!) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Cuddle Up a Little Closer (1908) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Music |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Ella Wheeler Wilcox | Come, cuddle your head on my shoulder, dear, your head like the golden-rod, and we will go sailing away from here to the beautiful land of Nod. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | These questions are often more specific versions of the “red flags” listed on the previous page, such as Does the child cuddle like other children? Or, Does the child direct your attention by holding up objects for you to see? The doctor will also ask if the child has any features that were listed earlier as definite signs for evaluation for autism. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Cuddle" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 54.55% of the time. "Cuddle" is used about 165 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 54.55% | 90 | 34,744 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 32.73% | 54 | 46,184 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 12.73% | 21 | 76,261 |
| Total | 100.00% | 165 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "cuddle": cuddle bone ♦ cuddle down ♦ cuddle toy ♦ cuddle up ♦ cuddle up to ♦ give a child a cuddle ♦ have a cuddle ♦ kiss and cuddle ♦ kiss and cuddle smb.. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "cuddle"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | përqafoj (embosom, embrace, enclasp, enfold, fold, hug, squeeze, strain, take on, take smb. in), përqafim (embrace, hug, necking), mbaj në krehër, mbaj në krah. (various references) | |
Arabic | حضن (baby sit, bosom, clasp, enfold, kiss, lap, nestle, nurture, stain), تضام, عناق (caress, clasp, conversion, embracing, grasp, hug, hugging, squeeze), عانق (caress, clasp, embrace, enfold, fold, grasp, hug, lock, neck, pet, press). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сгушвам се (burrow), гушвам (snuggle), прегръщам (canoodle, clasp, clinch, cling, cradle, embosom, embrace, enclasp, enfold, fold, inarm, pet), прегръдка (clasp, embrace, hug). (various references) | |
Chinese | 偎 (to cuddle). (various references) | |
Czech | polaskání (caress), objetí (clasp, embrace, hug), mazlit se (caress, pet, play), laskat se, hýèkat (cosset, mollycoddle, nurse, pamper). (various references) | |
Dutch | knuffelen (hug). (various references) | |
Esperanto | karespremi (hug). (various references) | |
Farsi | نوازش کردن (Baby, Coax, Coddle, Pat, Pet, Stroke), دراغوش گرفتن (Clasp, Embrace, Entwine, Hug), دربسترراحت غنودن . (various references) | |
French | caresser, caresse, cajoler, câlinerie, embrasser, étreinte. (various references) | |
German | herzen (hearts), hätscheln (cherish, coddle, fondle, indulge, mollycoddle, nurse, nuzzle, pamper, pet, to fondle). (various references) | |
Greek | κρατάω αγκαλιά, μαζεύομαι (cluster, cower, cringe, crouch, gather), αγκαλιάζω (clasp, embrace, enfold, hug). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לחבק חזק, ל"תרפק (hug, nestle, snuggle), חבוק חזק. (various references) | |
Hungarian | ölelkezés (snog), ölelés (clasp, cole, embrace). (various references) | |
Indonesian | mengemong. (various references) | |
Italian | coccolare (canoodle, Cocker, coddle, cosher, cosset, lap, mollycoddle, pamper, pet), abbraccio affettuoso, abbracciare (clasp, embrace, embrace each other, enclose, enfold, fold, hug, inclose, include, span). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 寄り添う (to cuddle close together, to get close, to nestle close to, to snuggle up to). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すりよる (to cuddle with, to draw close to, to draw closer to, to edge up to, to nestle close to, to snuggle up to), よりそう (to cuddle close together, to get close, to nestle close to, to snuggle up to). (various references) | |
Manx | nuiddragh (caress, caressing). (various references) | |
Norwegian | klemme (clamp, hug). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | uddlecay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | chamego, mimar (cosher, cosset, mime, pet, spoil), aconchego (cosiness), abraço (accolade, bracelet, clasp, embrace, squeeze), abraçar (bosom, clasp, cling, embosom, embrace, enclasp, enfold, enlace, fold, hug, neck, nestle, squeeze, wind). (various references) | |
Romanian | cocoloşi (ball, crumple, hush up, shrink, shrivel), strânge la piept (embosom, enclasp), se strânge (bank up, close, collect, convolve, curl up, draw, flock, furl, herd, jam, join, mass, mob, nuzzle, pack, pile up, snuggle, squash, squeeze, straiten), se lipi (adhere, cling, hook on, snuggle, solder, stick), se ghemui (cower, crouch, huddle up, nuzzle, snuggle, squat), giugiuli (caress, fondle), îmbrãţişa (clasp, embosom, embrace, enclasp, enfold, enlace, entwine, fold, grasp, hug, span, wrap). (various references) | |
Russian | свернуться, сжимать в объятиях, объятия (embrace), объятие (embrace, hug), обнимать (clasp, embosom, embrace, enclasp, fold, hug, inarm), прижаться. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zagrljaj (accolade, embrace, embranchment, hug), milovati (caress, fondle, nurse, palm, pet), milovanje (caress, fondling), maziti (cosher, fondle, pet), grliti (hug, inarm). (various references) | |
Spanish | entrar en abrazos, acariciar (canoodle, caress, chuck, fawn on, fondle, hug, Pat, pet, snuggle, stroke, tickle, toy with), abrazo estrecho, abrazo (clasp, clinch, embrace, embracement, hug), abrazar (bosom, canoodle, clasp, clinch, embosom, embrace, hug). (various references) | |
Swedish | krama (clasp, embrace, give a hug, hug, jam, squeeze, wring), kela med (dandle, fondle, pet). (various references) | |
Turkish | sarılmak (arm, be wrapped, canoodle, clasp, clasp smb. in one's arms, cling, clip, coil, coil up, give a hug, give smb. a hug, hold on, hug, snuggle, twine, wind), sarılma (clasp, convolution, cuddling, embrace, grapple, hug, hugging, twine), sarılıp yatma, kucaklamak (canoodle, caress, clasp, clasp smb. in one's arms, embosom, embrace, encircle, enclasp, enfold, fold in one's arms, give a hug, give smb. a hug, hug, infold, snuggle, strain smb. to one's breast), kucaklama (caress, clasp, embrace, embracing, hug, hugging, squeeze). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | обійми (clasp, embrace, embranchment), міцно обіймати (cull, hug), притулитися (niche oneself, nuzzle), пригорнутися. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | sự vuốt ve (caress, stroke), sự âu yếm (caress, lovingness, necking), sự ôm ấp. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cuddle": cuddled, cuddler, cuddlers, cuddles, cuddlesome. (additional references) | |
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"Cuddle" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: chudde, Chuddley, codle, Codlea, cruddled, cuddleee, cuddler, cuddley, cudgle, Duddle, guddle, koddle, scuddled, suddel, suddle. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cuddle" (pronounced ku"dul) |
| 4 | -u" d u l | befuddle, huddle, muddle, puddle, Ruddle. |
| 3 | -d u l | addle, alkaloidal, antipodal, astraddle, backpedal, beadle, Bedell, bindle, Boodle, bridal, bridle, Brindle, bundle, caboodle, candle, caudal, caudle, Coddle, colloidal, cradle, dawdle, Doodle, dwindle, feudal, fiddle, fondle, genocidal, girdle, handle, homicidal, hurdle, idle, idol, idyll, spindle, straddle, suicidal, supermodel, swindle, intermodal, intertidal, kindle, ladle, manhandle, medal, meddle, middle, minoxidil, mishandle, modal, model, mollycoddle, needle, noodle, paddle, panhandle, pedal, peddle, Piddle, poodle, pyramidal, rekindle, remodel, rhizoidal, riddle, Rundle, saddle, sandal, scandal, Seidel, sidle, tidal, toddle, trundle, twaddle, Tweedle, twiddle, unbundle, vandal, Waddle, Wedel, widdle, Windle, yodel. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-d-d-e-l-u" | |
-1 letter: clued. | |
-2 letters: clue, cued, duce, dude, duel, leud, luce, lude. | |
-3 letters: cel, cud, cue, del, dud, due, ecu, eld, led, leu. | |
-4 letters: de, ed, el. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-d-d-e-l-u" | |
+1 letter: clouded, cuddled, cuddler, cuddles, curdled. | |
+2 letters: colluded, cuddlers, cuddlier, cudgeled, decidual, decupled, deucedly, excluded, included, occluded, secluded. | |
+3 letters: beclouded, concluded, cuckolded, cuddliest, cudgelled, decoupled, deducible, dulcified, peduncled, precluded, ridiculed, scheduled, unclouded. | |
+4 letters: acidulated, becudgeled, cuddlesome, decoloured, deductible, duckwalked, duodecimal, duplicated, elucidated, outscolded, secludedly, undeclared. | |
+5 letters: becudgelled, deductibles, deductively, deliquesced, duodecimals, edulcorated, overclouded, rescheduled, uncloudedly, undecidable, undercooled, undisclosed, unscheduled. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.