cuddle

USKUD-uhl/ˈkʌd.l̩/

Noun pluralcuddles

6 meanings of cuddle

1
verbUStransitive or intransitive
To lie snugly together with someone in an intimate physical embrace.
Newlyweds often cuddle in bed for hours on a lazy Sunday morning.
He cuddled his girlfriend close as the credits rolled.
Similarsnuggle, nestle
Note
The snuggling verb works with or without an object: young lovers cuddle on the couch, or he cuddles his girlfriend close. Either way it implies lying or sitting together for a while, which is what keeps it apart from the quick British hug.
2
verbUKtransitive or intransitive
To hug someone closely and with affection.
Go and cuddle your gran before she leaves.
The cousins cuddled on the station platform, both in tears.
Similarhug, embrace
Note
The hugging verb sits closest to the word's probable origin: a Middle English verb meaning "to embrace," with -le added for repeated action. Behind that verb lies couth, "known, familiar," the word still heard in uncouth. The history is uncertain, but it suits a cuddle given to the people you know best.
3
a snugglenounUScountable
An intimate embrace in which two people lie or sit snugly together, usually closer and longer than a hug.
They settled into a long cuddle under the blankets while the rain came down.
He missed their late-night cuddles more than anything else about her.
Similarsnuggle, embrace
Note
American and British English part ways over this noun. In American use a cuddle means lying close with a partner, the kind Björk is impatient for in "I Miss You" (1995); British English gives the same word to an everyday hug for family and friends, so "she wanted a cuddle" can sound romantic to one ear and simply affectionate to the other.
4
a hugnounUKcountable
An affectionate hug of the kind given to family and close friends, shorter and less intimate than a snuggle.
She gave her brother a quick cuddle at the school gates.
Granddad handed out cuddles to everyone who came through the door.
Similarhug, embrace
Note
The British cuddle is everyday and unromantic: the hug for a child who has fallen over, for Granddad at the door, for a friend who needs cheering up. It often comes with give, as in give me a cuddle or give your gran a cuddle, and it is offered as readily to a sibling as to a small child.
5
verbtransitive
To hold someone, especially a baby, close in one's arms to give comfort or warmth.
The nurse showed the new parents how to cuddle the newborn against their chest.
She cuddled the shivering puppy inside her coat.
Similarcradle, hold, hug
6
curl upverbintransitive
To lie close and snug, or to crouch or nestle down.
A rabbit cuddled low in the long grass, hoping the hawk had not seen it.
Small birds cuddle into the hedge when the wind turns cold.
Similarnestle, huddle, crouch, snuggle
Note
No partner is needed here: the word describes a creature drawing itself in and keeping snug, as the bird in Matthew Prior's poem The Dove "cuddles low behind the brake," a brake being a thicket. It takes no object, and its feeling is shelter or hiding rather than affection.

Practice

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Origin

Of uncertain origin, but probably from a frequentative form of Middle English *cudden, cuththen ("to embrace"), a variant of cuthen, kithen ("to be familiar with, make known"), from cuth, couth ("known, familiar"), so equivalent to couth + -le. It is related to Middle Dutch kudden ("to come together, flock together").