dudgeon

See also: Dudgeon

English

Etymology 1

Uncertain:

• Perhaps the same as Etymology 2, below
• Perhaps from Welsh dygen (“anger, grudge”) (from dy- + cwyn (“complaint”)), though the OED rejects this.
• Possibly from dudgen (“trash, something worthless”).
• Possibly borrowed from Italian aduggiare (“to overshadow”), similar to the semantic development of umbrage.

Noun

dudgeon (uncountable)

1. A feeling of anger or resentment, especially haughty indignation.
   • 1818, John Keats, “The Gadfly”, in Letter to Tom Keats:

     All gentle folks who owe a grudge / To any living thing, / Open your ears and stay your trudge / Whilst I in dudgeon sing.

   • 1835, William Gilmore Simms, The Partisan, Harper, Chapter XVIII, page 224:

     To crown his discontent, his approach was utterly unnoticed by that capricious damsel. He dashed away in dudgeon from the house at an early hour, certainly less regretted by the maid than by the master of the inn.

   • 1850, Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, Bradbury & Evans, Chapter V:

     ...I have reason to know that she took its impressment into the service of boiling my egg and broiling my bacon, in dudgeon; for I saw her, with my own discomfited eyes, shake her fist at me once...

   • 1912, George Bernard Shaw, “Act IV”, in Pygmalion‎^[1]:

     HIGGINS […] You may take the whole damned houseful if you like. Except the jewels. They're hired. Will that satisfy you? [He turns on his heel and is about to go in extreme dudgeon.]

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI:

     [...] with girls of high and haughty spirit you have to watch your step, especially if they have red hair, like Bobbie. If they think you're talking out of turn, dudgeon ensues, and dudgeon might easily lead her to reach for the ginger ale bottle and bean me with it.

   • 2020 May 30, Michael M. Grynbaum, Annie Karni, Jeremy W. Peters, “What Top Conservatives Are Saying About George Floyd and Police Brutality”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     In her typical appearances on Fox News, Jeanine Pirro, a former Republican district attorney, reserves her highest dudgeon for castigating liberals and lamenting the demise of law and order.

Usage notes

Usually found only in set terms, see below.

Derived terms

• humdudgeon
• in high dudgeon

Translations

feeling of anger or resentment, especially haugthy indignation

• German: Groll (de) f, Empörung (de) f, Wut (de) f, Zorn (de) f, Entrüstung (de) f, Verärgerung f

Etymology 2

Middle English dogeon, apparently from Anglo-Norman or Middle French, but the ultimate origin is obscure. Compare French douve (“stave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌd͡ʒən/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌdʒən

Noun

dudgeon (plural dudgeons)

1. (obsolete) A kind of wood used especially in the handles of knives; the root of the box tree.
   • 1597, John Gerard, Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes:

     Turners and Cutlers, if I mistake not the matter, doe call this wood Dudgeon, wherewith they make Dudgeon hafted daggers.

2. (obsolete) A hilt made of this wood.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     And on thy blade and dudgeon gouts of blood

3. (archaic) A dagger which has a dudgeon hilt.

Translations

wood of the box tree

• German: Buchsbaum (de) m, Buchsbaumholz n, Buchs (de) m

Further reading

• “dudgeon”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.