giddy

aggettivo

1. 1

   Feeling a sense of spinning in the head, causing a perception of unsteadiness and being about to fall down; dizzy.

   The man became giddy upon standing up so fast.

   [W]hilst I vvas thus muſing, and attentively looking upon the VVater, to try vvhether I could diſcover the Bottom, it happened to me, as it often does to thoſe that gaze too ſtedfaſtly on ſvvift Streams, that my Head began to grovv giddy, and my Leggs to ſtagger tovvards the River, into vvhich queſtionleſs I had fell, if Philaretus had not ſeaſonably and obligingly prevented it.

   I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly: you make one quite giddy.

   They see the roofs and argue about where the different churches are: Rathmines' blue dome, Adam and Eve's, saint Laurence O'Toole's. But it makes them giddy to look so they pull up their skirts …

2. 2

   Causing or likely to cause dizziness or a feeling of unsteadiness.

   They climbed to a giddy height.

   [A]s vve pact along, / Vpon the giddy footing of the hatches: / Me thought that Gloceſter ſtumbled, and in ſtumbling, / Stroke me that thought to ſtay him ouer board, / Into the tumbling billovves of the maine.

   VVilt thou vpon the high and giddy maſſe, / Seale vp the ſhip-boies eies, and rocke his braines, […]

   [A]ll those changes, that are taken for the Giddy turns of Fortune's Wheel, shall serve to approach him the faster to the blest Mansion he would arrive at.

3. 3

   Moving around something or spinning rapidly.

   To ſpoil Antiquities of hammerd ſteele, / And turn the giddy round of Fortunes vvheele.

   So vvhirls a VVheel, in giddy Circle toſt, / And rapid as it runs, the ſingle Spokes are loſt.

   There, vvhile above the giddy tempeſt flies, / And all around diſtreſsful yells ariſe, / The penſive exile, bending vvith his vvoe, / To ſtop too fearful, and too faint to go.

   Amid his senses' giddy wheel, / Did he not desperate impulse feel, / Headlong to plunge himself below, / And meet the worst his fears foreshow?— […]

4. 4

   Unable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous.

   The Biſhop, and the Duke of Gloſters men, / Forbidden late to carry any VVeapon, / Haue fill'd their Pockets full of peeble ſtones; / And banding themſelues in contrary parts, / Doe pelt ſo faſt at one anothers Pate, / That many haue their giddy braynes knockt out: […]

   [I]n this ſtanding vvoodden cheſt, / Conſorted vvith theſe fevv bookes, let me lye / In priſon, and here be coffin'd, vvhen I dye; / […] / Here gathering Chroniclers, and by them ſtand / Giddie fantaſtique Poëts of each land.

   [I]n briefe, ſince I doe purpoſe to marrie, I vvill think nothing to anie purpoſe that the vvorld can ſaie againſt it: and therfore neuer flout at me, for vvhat I haue ſaid againſt it: for man is a giddie thing, and this is my concluſion: […]

   It may be Gnats, and Flies, haue their Imagination more mutable and giddy, as Small Birds likevviſe haue.

5. 5

   desuetoUnable to concentrate or think seriously; easily excited; impulsive; also, lightheartedly silly; frivolous. Used as an intensifier.

   'E isn't one o' the reg'lar Line, nor 'e isn't one of the crew. / 'E's a kind of a giddy harumfrodite—soldier an' sailor too!

   I found him pokin' about the place on his own hook afterwards, an' I thought I'd show him the giddy drill. When I found he was so pleased, I wasn't goin' to damp his giddy ardour. He mightn't ha' given me the quid if I had.

   A giddy lot Scudder's friends cared for peace and reform.

6. 6

   Joyfully elated; overcome with excitement or happiness.

   The boy was giddy when he opened his birthday presents.

   I come by note to giue, and to receiue; / Like one of tvvo contending in a prize, / That thinks he hath done vvell in peoples eyes; / Hearing applauſe and vniuerſall ſhout, / Giddy in ſpirit, ſtill gazing in a doubt, / VVhether thoſe pearles^([sic – meaning peals]) of praiſe be his or no.

   But I vvonder, that either theſe good men, or my mamma ſhou'd think, becauſe they may find it pleaſant vvho are come to maturity of judgment, that ſuch as vve vvho are in the gayeſt and giddyeſt part of life ſhou'd.

   "I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world. Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!"

7. 7

   Feeling great anger; furious, raging.

8. 8

   Of an animal, chiefly a sheep: affected by gid (“a disease caused by parasitic infestation of the brain by tapeworm larvae”), which may result in the animal turning around aimlessly.

9. 9

   figuratoOf a thing, especially a ship: unsteady, as if dizzy.

   The giddy Ship ran round; the Tempeſt tore / Her Maſt, and over-board the Rudder bore.

   VVide o'er the vvaſte the rage of Boreas ſvveeps, / And Night ruſh'd headlong on the ſhaded deeps. / Novv here, novv there, the giddy ſhips are born, / And all the rattling ſhrouds in fragments torn.

sostantivo

1. 1

   arcaicoSomeone or something that is frivolous or impulsive.

   But the giddy, the idle, and the frivolous part of the vvorld vvill inceſſantly purſue a phantom, and graſp a ſhadovv.

   She seemed born not only to captivate the giddy, but to turn the heads of the sage.

2. 2

   arcaicoSynonym of gid (“a disease caused by parasitic infestation of the brain by tapeworm larvae”).

verbo

1. 1

   arcaicoTo make (someone or something) dizzy or unsteady; to dizzy.

   A nevv faſhion of apparrell creepeth no ſooner into vſe, but preſently he blameth and diſpraiſeth the olde, and that vvith ſo earneſt a reſolution, and vniverſall a conſent, that you vvould ſay, it is ſome kinde of madnes, or ſelfe-fond humor, that giddieth his vnderſtanding.

   [T]he footmen vſe it [opium] too as a preſeruer of ſtrength, and vvhich is ſtrangeſt, ſo giddies them, that in a conſtant dreame or dizzineſſe, they run ſleeping not knovving vvhom they meet, and yet miſſe not their intended places: […]

   And indeed her ovvn little head vvas ſo giddied vvith this vvonderful elevation; […] that had ſhe not really been one of the prettieſt figures that can be imagined, ſhe vvould have been inſufferable.

   [T]he hiss of the plunging shot deafening their ear and giddying the brain, with life and liberty beyond, and behind a doom more dread than death, they fled on through the heavy, breathless night.

2. 2

   arcaicoTo become dizzy or unsteady.

   Giddied, he gave up a moment's purchase of ground.

3. 3

   arcaicoTo move around something or spin rapidly; to reel; to whirl.

   [B]y chance, a sudden north-wind fetch'd, / With an extreme sea, quite about again / Our whole endeavours, and our course constrain / To giddy round, and with our bow'd sails greet / Dreadful Maleia, calling back our fleet / As far forth as Cythera.

Forme

plurale

giddies

comparativo

giddier

superlativo

giddiest

passato

giddied

participio passato

giddied

participio presente

giddying

3ª persona singolare

giddies