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dandle

Today it means: To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play, usually said of a child. Full definition →

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The story

Compare Scots dandill (“to dander; go about idly; move uncertainly; trifle”), English dialectal dander (“to wander about; talk incoherently; rave”), Middle Dutch dantinnen (“to trifle”) (from French dandiner (“to swing; waddle”)), German dändeln, tändeln (“to trifle, dandle”), Middle Dutch and Provincial German danten (“to do foolish things; trifle”), German Tand (“trifle, prattle”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.