huddle

Meanings

Noun

• A dense and disorderly crowd.
• A brief meeting of all the players from one team that are on the field with the purpose of planning the following play.
• A hesitation during play to think about one's next move.

Verb

• To crowd together.
• To curl one's legs up to the chest and keep one's arms close to the torso; to crouch; to assume a position similar to that of an embryo in the womb.
• To get together and discuss a topic.
• To form a huddle.
• To crowd (things) together; to mingle confusedly; to assemble without order or system.
• To do, make, or put, in haste or roughly; hence, to do imperfectly; usually with a following preposition or adverb (huddle on, huddle up, huddle together).
• To hesitate during play while thinking about one's next move.

Adjective

• Muted, as if emitted by a huddled embryo

Origin

• From Middle English *hudelen, alteration (due to hudels, hidels, see hiddle) of *huderen, hoderen, a frequentative form of Middle English huden, hiden, equivalent to hide + -le and/or hide + -er. Compare Low German huderken.