boodle
verbEtymology From Dutch boedel. Doublet of bottle (dialectal term meaning building or house).
1
Slang To engage in bribery.
boodle
noun/ˈbuːdəl/
Etymology From Dutch boedel. Doublet of bottle (dialectal term meaning building or house).
1
Slang Money, especially when acquired or spent illegally or improperly; swag.
- He was your 'man higher up' when you were on the force. His share of the boodle passed through your hands. You must go on the stand and testify against him.1907 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “According to Their Lights”, in The Trimmed Lamp […] , New York: McClure, Phillips & Co.:
- “The boodle. The reward. The £500. The gunner turned damned nasty at the last, and I had to square him with an extra hundred dollars or it would have been nitsky for you and me.1917 September, Arthur Conan Doyle, “His Last Bow: An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes”, in His Last Bow: A Reminiscence of Sherlock Holmes, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published October 1917, →OCLC, page 297:
1 more example
- […] marauders ready to decamp with whatever boodle they could in one fell swoop at a moment’s notice, your money or your life, leaving you there to point a moral, gagged and garotted.1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
- He pulled off his coat and threw it down, and declared he'd fight the whole boodle of 'em1833 January 4, Jack Downing, letter to Ephraim Downing:
- Send the first boodle in an airtight container so that there is a place for the storage of future packages […] Suggestions for Boodle: cookies, candy, individual packets of drink mixes (sugar-free), raisins, nuts, gum.1986, The Parent's Guidebook to West Point, page 62:
- Derived terms
- boodle fight, boodler