swaddle

From Middle English swathlen (“to bind; swaddle”), from Middle English swathel, swethel, from Old English swaþul, swæþel, sweþel, sweoþol (“swaddling cloth”), equivalent to swathe (“to wrap with fabric”) +‎ -le (agent/instrumental suffix), the word then underwent th-stopping (its voiced th became a d). Cognate with Middle Dutch swadel (“swaddling; bandage”), Old High German swedili (“poultice”), Old English sweþian, besweþian (“to wrap; swaddle”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈswɒdəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈswɔdəl/, /ˈswɑdəl/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒdəl

swaddle (third-person singular simple present swaddles, present participle swaddling, simple past and past participle swaddled)

1. To bind (a baby) with long narrow strips of cloth.
2. (archaic) To beat; cudgel.

• swaddling

swaddle (plural swaddles)

1. Anything used to swaddle with, such as a cloth or band.
   • 1711 June 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, June 13, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 90; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     They put me in bed in all my swaddles.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 2020, Avni Doshi, Burnt Sugar, Hamish Hamilton, page 207:

     The baby is awake, trying to escape the swaddle I have imprisoned her in.

• Dewalds, Waddles, dawdles, waddles