dizzy
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See also: Dizzy
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English dysy, desy, dusi, from Old English dysiġ (“stupid, foolish”), from Proto-West Germanic *dusīg (“stunned; dazed”), likely from the root of Proto-Germanic *dwēsaz (“foolish, stupid”).
Akin to West Frisian dize (“fog”), Dutch deusig, duizig (“dizzy”), duizelig (“dizzy”), German dösig (“sleepy; stupid”).
Adjective
dizzy (comparative dizzier, superlative dizziest)
- Experiencing a sensation of whirling and of being giddy, unbalanced, or lightheaded.
- I stood up too fast and felt dizzy.
- 1627, Michaell Drayton [i.e., Michael Drayton], “Nimphidia. The Court of Fayrie.”, in The Battaile of Agincourt. , London: A M for VVilliam Lee, , published 1631, →OCLC:
- Alas! his brain was dizzy.
- Producing giddiness.
- Synonym: dizzying
- We climbed to a dizzy height.
- 1856 February, [Thomas Babington] Macaulay, “Oliver Goldsmith”, in T[homas] F[lower] E[llis], editor, The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, new edition, London: Longman, Green, Reader, & Dyer, published 1871, →OCLC:
- To climb from the brink of Fleet Ditch by a dizzy ladder.
- 1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp., →OCLC; republished as chapter IX, in Hugo Gernsback, editor, Amazing Stories, (please specify |part=I, II, or III), New York, N.Y.: Experimenter Publishing, 1927, →OCLC:
- ...faintly from the valley far below came an unmistakable sound which brought me to my feet, trembling with excitement, to peer eagerly downward from my dizzy ledge.
- Empty-headed, scatterbrained or frivolous; ditzy.
- My new secretary is a dizzy blonde.
- 1671, John Milton, “The Second Book”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: J. M for John Starkey , →OCLC:
- the dizzy multitude
- (UK dialectal, Yorkshire) simple, half-witted.
- 1952 Albert Lyon Hoy, An Etymologal Glossary of the East Yorkshire Dialect
- Them as diz ’at is dizzy.
- Those who do that are half-witted.
- 1952 Albert Lyon Hoy, An Etymologal Glossary of the East Yorkshire Dialect
Alternative forms
- dizzie (obsolete)
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
experiencing a sensation of whirling and being unbalanced
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producing giddiness
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empty-headed, scatterbrained or frivolous
Verb
dizzy (third-person singular simple present dizzies, present participle dizzying, simple past and past participle dizzied)
- (transitive) To make (someone or something) dizzy; to bewilder.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, translated by John Florio, The Essayes , London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC:
- Let me have this violence and compulsion removed, there is nothing that, in my seeming, doth more bastardise and dizzie a wel-borne and gentle nature […]
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC:
- If the jangling of thy bells had not dizzied thy understanding.
- 2012 September 7, Dominic Fifield, “England start World Cup campaign with five-goal romp against Moldova”, in The Guardian:
- So ramshackle was the locals' attempt at defence that, with energetic wingers pouring into the space behind panicked full-backs and centre-halves dizzied by England's movement, it was cruel to behold at times. The contest did not extend beyond the half-hour mark.
Translations
to make (someone or something) dizzy
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Etymology 2
Noun
dizzy (plural dizzies)
- (slang, automotive) A distributor (device in internal combustion engine).
- 2005, Roger Williams, How to Give Your MGB V8 Power, page 201:
- A service exchange distributor usually needs to be ordered by a motor factor and cost £150-200! I would suggest you use the SD1 dizzy body/cap etc but change the trigger mechanism to a modern electronic/breakerless unit such as the Newtronic unit.