noodle | 
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1. n. (usually in plural) a string or strip of pasta | |
She slurped a long noodle up out of her soup. | |
2. n. (colloquial, dated) a person with poor judgement; a fool | |
3. n. (colloquial) the brain, the head | |
4. n. (colloquial) a pool noodle | |
5. v. To think or ponder. | |
He noodled over the problem for a day or two before making a decision. | |
"Noodle that thought around for a while" said Dr. Johnson to his Biblical Interpretations class. | |
6. v. To fiddle, play with, or mess around. | |
If the machine is really broken, noodling with the knobs is not going to fix it. | |
7. v. To improvise music. | |
He has been noodling with that trumpet all afternoon, and every bit of it sounds awful. | |
8. v. (fishing) To fish (usually for very large catfish) without any equipment other than the fisherman's own body | |
Fred had several lacerations on his hands from noodling for flathead in the river. | |
9. v. (Australia) To fossick, especially for opals. | |