paddle

• IPA^(key): /ˈpædl̩/, /ˈpæ.dəl/
  • (US) IPA^(key): [ˈpʰæ.ɾɫ̩]
• Rhymes: -ædəl

Partly from the verb paddle ("to splash, dabble"; see below) and partly from Middle English padell (“small spade”). Middle English padell is from Medieval Latin padela, itself of uncertain origin: perhaps an alteration of *spaddle, a diminutive of spade; or from Latin patella (“pan, plate”), the diminutive of patina, or a merger of the two. Compare Greek πηδάλιον (pēdálion) ("rudder, steering oar"), derived from πηδός (pēdós) ("the blade of an oar", "an oar").

• paidle (obsolete)

paddle (plural paddles)

1. A two-handed, single-bladed oar used to propel a canoe or a small boat.
2. A double-bladed oar used for kayaking.
3. Time spent on paddling.

   We had a nice paddle this morning.

4. A slat of a paddleboat's wheel.
5. A paddlewheel.
6. A blade of a waterwheel.
7. (video games, dated) A game controller with a round wheel used to control player movement along one axis of the video screen.
8. (Britain) A meandering walk or dabble through shallow water, especially at the seaside.
9. A kitchen utensil shaped like a paddle and used for mixing, beating etc.
10. A bat-shaped spanking implement

    The paddle practically ousted the British cane for spankings in the independent US.

11. A ping-pong bat.
12. A flat limb of an aquatic animal, adapted for swimming.

    A sea turtle's paddles make it swim almost as fast as land tortoises are slow

13. In a sluice, a panel that controls the flow of water.
14. A group of inerts
15. A handheld defibrillation/cardioversion electrode
16. (slang) hand
17. padel (sport)

• oar

paddle (third-person singular simple present paddles, present participle paddling, simple past and past participle paddled)

1. (transitive) To propel something through water with a paddle, oar, hands, etc.
   • L'Estrange

     as the men were paddling for their lives

   • John Gay

     while paddling ducks the standing lake desire

   • 1884: Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapter IX

     Daytimes we paddled all over the island in the canoe […]

2. (intransitive) To row a boat with less than one's full capacity.
3. (transitive) To spank with a paddle.
4. To pat or stroke amorously or gently.
   • Shakespeare

     to be paddling palms and pinching fingers.

5. To tread upon; to trample.

Recorded since 1530, probably cognate with Low German paddeln (“to tramp about”), frequentative form of padjen (“to tramp, run in short steps”), from pad (also in Dutch dialects). Compare also Saterland Frisian paddelje (“to paddle”).

paddle (third-person singular simple present paddles, present participle paddling, simple past and past participle paddled)

1. (intransitive, Britain) To walk or dabble playfully in shallow water, especially at the seaside.
2. To toddle
3. (archaic, intransitive) To toy or caress using hands or fingers

paddle

1. First-person singular present of paddeln.
2. First-person singular subjunctive I of paddeln.
3. Third-person singular subjunctive I of paddeln.
4. Imperative singular of paddeln.