footling

comparative more footling · superlative most footling

1. trivial, silly and irritating.

   “Why did you persist in writing hurlothrumbo romances of the footling sort favored by mooncalfs?”

   2009 July 15, Carlo Rotella, “The Genre Artist”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Oct 2013

   4 more examples

   He was explaining to her things about the air service. . . . "Isn't it rather dangerous work?" she asked. She felt it was a footling question even as she asked it.

   1919, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 16, in All Roads Lead to Calvary

   Only a couple of days ago I was compelled to take him off a case because his handling of it was so footling.

   1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 7, in Right Ho, Jeeves

   For 28 footling days the 58-nation General Assembly had been debating the now-famous U.S. afterthought: to postpone partition and substitute a U.N. trusteeship for Palestine.

   1948 May 24, “United Nations: Over to You”, in Time, retrieved 14 Oct 2013

   They are electrically hauled, and travel at over 70 m.p.h. between stops, but they make five stops at footling little country towns and take two hours for the 98-mile run.

   1962 December, “Letters to the Editor: Towards 75 m.p.h. expresses”, in Modern Railways, page 429

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of footle

plural footlings

1. A fetus oriented so that, at birth, its foot or feet will emerge first. A type of breech birth.

   In 1999 my fourth child (third daughter) made an unexpected footling breech presentation.

   2006 January 29, James McManus, “Excerpt from Physical: An American Checkup”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Oct 2013