Originally dialectal, from Low German dudeldopp (“simpleton”). Influenced by dawdle. Compare also German dudeln (“to play (the bagpipe)”). The word doodle first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or simpleton. German variants of the etymon include Dudeltopf, Dudentopf, Dudenkopf, Dude and Dödel. American English dude may be a derivation of doodle. The meaning "fool, simpleton" is intended in the song title "Yankee Doodle", originally sung by British colonial troops prior to the American Revolutionary War. This is also the origin of the early eighteenth century verb to doodle, meaning "to swindle or to make a fool of". The modern meaning emerged in the 1930s either from this meaning or from the verb "to dawdle", which since the seventeenth century has had the meaning of wasting time or being lazy.
Mrs. Sneak. Why doodle! jackanapes! harkee, who am I? Sneak. Come, don't go to call names: am I? vhy my vife, and I am your master.1764, Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garrett, W. Lowndes (1797), page 43
Perceval. Weep on! weep on! thou flouted loon, Weep on! weep on! thou gowky doodle!1812, "THE TEARS OF SIR VICARY!!!", The Scourge, 2 March 1812, page 231
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Courtier, it was thine to bow — Great Arthur he, and Doodle thou!1837 November, “Carmen Inaugurale”, in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine, page 676:
His doodle hung as limp as last month's celery.1993, Patti Walkuski, No Bed of Roses: Memoirs of a Madam, Wakefield Press, published 1993, →ISBN, page 189:
Her favorite had been when she'd convinced the lascivious guards that Dinah's red hair meant she was a witch, and if they molested her, their doodles would shrivel up between their legs and fall off. Daisy had assured her that no man would risk losing his doodle.1996, Jane Bonander, Winter Heart, Pocket Star Books, published 1996, →ISBN, page 43:
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All of Dwight's parts wandered, especially his doodle. He had the wandering-est doodle in three states. His doodle had its own set of legs. His doodle was hardly at home. Heck, according to rumor Dwight Farris's doodle was hardly ever in his pants.2011, Lexi George, Demon Hunting in Dixie, Brava Books, published 2011, →ISBN:
Originally dialectal, from Low German dudeldopp (“simpleton”). Influenced by dawdle. Compare also German dudeln (“to play (the bagpipe)”). The word doodle first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or simpleton. German variants of the etymon include Dudeltopf, Dudentopf, Dudenkopf, Dude and Dödel. American English dude may be a derivation of doodle. The meaning "fool, simpleton" is intended in the song title "Yankee Doodle", originally sung by British colonial troops prior to the American Revolutionary War. This is also the origin of the early eighteenth century verb to doodle, meaning "to swindle or to make a fool of". The modern meaning emerged in the 1930s either from this meaning or from the verb "to dawdle", which since the seventeenth century has had the meaning of wasting time or being lazy.
1
Ambitransitive To draw or scribble aimlessly.
The bored student doodled a submarine in his notebook.
The managing director doodled.1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 32:
2
With with and/or around To engage in something non-seriously; fiddle.
I've been expecting women's music finally to discover New Wave and technopop, and this album is the evidence that someone has been peaking ^([sic]) at music videos and doodling around with sythesizers.1984 August 4, Maida Tilchen, “Sex, Politics, and Good Vibes”, in Gay Community News, page 9:
I can tell you that he does indeed spend a lot of time on business and social calls, social chats, doodling around on AOL, and skimming the daily paper while those patients are piling up.2003 February 23, 14tonks, “More doctors charging for e-mail and phone calls”, in sci.med.transcription (Usenet):
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For quite a long time now (at least the 1990s) people have been doodling with the idea of separating space and time again and perhaps endowing them with some properties currently not assigned to them.2016 May 19, JanPB, “Quantization of Gravity”, in sci.physics.relativity (Usenet):