huddle

1) To hug, embrace, a dialect usage.

1697 saw the soldier ... sometimes upon [Mary Barton’s] bedside, very familiar with her, hudleing and Kissinge her, Dewsbury. This was part of a testimony in a case involving Mary Barton. She was accused of using her ale-house as a brothel and ‘huddling and kissing’ was used as a euphemism for having intercourse. It seems possible that the words ‘huddle’ and ‘kiss’ contributed to the development of ‘cuddle’ which otherwise has an obscure origin. The OED notes huddle and cuddle, wee’l toy and wee’ll kiss in Scotland in c.1665.

spellings cuddle
places Dewsbury
dates 1697

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