meddle

English

Alternative forms

• medle (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English medlen, from Anglo-Norman medler, from Early Medieval Latin misculāre, derived from Latin misceō (“to mix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛd.əl/
  • (US, T-flapping) IPA^(key): [ˈmɛɾəɫ]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛdəl
• Homophone: medal
• Homophones: metal, mettle (in accents with flapping)

Verb

meddle (third-person singular simple present meddles, present participle meddling, simple past and past participle meddled)

2. To interfere in or with; to concern oneself with unduly. [from 14^thc.]

   Synonyms: dabble, stick one's nose into, stick one's oar in

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 14:10, column 2:

     […] why ſhouldeſt thou meddle to thy hurt, […]?

   • 1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Who Heir?”, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC, book I, paragraph 126, page 161:

     […] the Civil Lawyers […] have medled in a matter, that belongs not to them; […].

   • 2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist‎:

     There is much to dislike about the proposed constitution, which will keep elected governments beholden to a senate nominated by the junta and to a suite of meddling committees.

3. (obsolete) To interest or engage oneself; to have to do (with), in a good sense.
   • 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, 1 Thessalonians iiij:[11], folio cclxx, verso:

     […] ſtuddy to be quyet / and to medle with youre owne buſynes […].

   • 1734, Isaac Barrow, “Lecture II. Of the Particular Division of the Mathematical Sciences”, in John Kirkby, transl., The Usefulness of Mathematical Learning Explained and Demonstrated: Being Mathematical Lectures Read in the Publick Schools at the University of Cambridge. […], London: […] Stephen Austen, […], →OCLC, page 14:

     The Pythagoreans who, as Ariſtotle ſays, were the firſt among the Greeks, that meddled with Mathematics, divided them into four Parts, of which, two were Pure and Primary, namely Arithmetic and Geometry; and the other two Mixed and Secondary, as Muſic and Spheres, i. e. Aſtronomy.

4. (obsolete) To mix (something) with some other substance; to commingle, combine, blend. [14th–17th c.]

   Synonyms: bemingle, combine, ming; see also Thesaurus:mix

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 204:

     [H]e cutt a lock of all their heare, / Which medling with their blood & earth, he threw / Into the graue, […].

5. (intransitive, now US regional) To have sex. [from 14^thc.]

   Synonyms: do it, get it on, ming; see also Thesaurus:copulate

   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:

     But after god came to Adam and bad hym knowe his wyf flesshly as nature requyred / Soo lay Adam with his wyf vnder the same tree / and anone the tree whiche was whyte and ful grene as ony grasse and alle that came oute of hit / and in the same tyme that they medled to gyders there was Abel begoten / thus was the tree longe of grene colour

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 5, member 1, subsection v, page 323:

     Take a Rammes head that neuer medled with an Ewe, cut off at a blow, and the hornes onely taken away, boyle it well skinne and wooll together, […].

Derived terms

• meddle and make
• meddlement
• meddlesome
• meddler

Translations

to interfere in affairs

Azerbaijani: qarışmaq, qatışmaq Bulgarian: меся се (mesja se) Catalan: ficar-se (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 插手 (zh) (chāshǒu), 干預 (zh) (gānyù) Czech: vměšovat, plést se impf, zasahovat impf Dutch: zich (nl) moeien (nl), tussenkomen (nl), bemoeien (nl) Finnish: sekaantua (fi), sotkeentua (fi), sotkeutua (fi) French: s’ingérer (fr), se mêler (fr) Galician: meterse (gl), entremeter German: sich einmischen (de) Greek: ανακατεύομαι (el) (anakatévomai) Ancient Greek: πολυπραγμονέω (polupragmonéō) Hebrew: התערב Hungarian: beleavatkozik (hu) Italian: immischiarsi (it) Japanese: おせっかいをする (o-sekkai-o suru) Latin: admisceō, immisceo Macedonian: се ме́ша (se méša) Maori: raweke, auwaha, rahurahu, haukeke, hūrau, whawhe Ottoman Turkish: پرمقلمق (parmaklamak), یاپشمق (yapışmak) Portuguese: intrometer (pt) Romanian: băga (ro), amesteca (ro), băga nasul unde nu-i fierbe oala, interveni (ro) Russian: вме́шиваться (ru) impf (vméšivatʹsja), вмеша́ться (ru) pf (vmešátʹsja), лезть (ru) impf (leztʹ) (disapprobative) Spanish: entrometerse (es), inmiscuirse (es), injerirse (es), mangonear (es) (colloquial), entremeterse (es), caciquear (es), inserirse Swedish: lägga sig i (sv) Tagalog: manghimasok, makialam Turkish: burnunu sokmak (tr)

to mix with other substance

Finnish: sekoittaa (fi) Georgian: შეურევს (šeurevs) Russian: сме́шивать (ru) impf (sméšivatʹ), смеша́ть (ru) pf (smešátʹ)

to have sex — see have sex

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Mandarin: (please verify) 干涉 (zh) (gānshè) (gan she)

Anagrams

• melded