footling meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

footling

adj

UK /ˈfuːt.lɪŋ/

Etymology From footle + -ing.

trivial, silly and irritating.

He was explaining to her things about the air service. . . . "Isn't it rather dangerous work?" she asked. She felt it was a footling question even as she asked it.1919, Jerome K. Jerome, chapter 16, in All Roads Lead to Calvary:
Only a couple of days ago I was compelled to take him off a case because his handling of it was so footling.1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 7, in Right Ho, Jeeves:

3 more examples

For 28 footling days the 58-nation General Assembly had been debating the now-famous U.S. afterthought: to postpone partition and substitute a U.N. trusteeship for Palestine.1948 May 24, “United Nations: Over to You”, in Time, retrieved 14 Oct 2013:
They are electrically hauled, and travel at over 70 m.p.h. between stops, but they make five stops at footling little country towns and take two hours for the 98-mile run.1962 December, “Letters to the Editor: Towards 75 m.p.h. expresses”, in Modern Railways, page 429:
“Why did you persist in writing hurlothrumbo romances of the footling sort favored by mooncalfs?”2009 July 15, Carlo Rotella, “The Genre Artist”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Oct 2013:

noun

UK /ˈfʊt.lɪŋ/

Etymology From foot + -ling.

A fetus oriented so that, at birth, its foot or feet will emerge first. A type of breech birth.

In 1999 my fourth child (third daughter) made an unexpected footling breech presentation.2006 January 29, James McManus, “Excerpt from Physical: An American Checkup”, in New York Times, retrieved 14 Oct 2013: