huddle Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun (informal) a quick private conference
    powwow.
  2. noun a disorganized and densely packed crowd
    • a huddle of frightened women
  3. verb crowd or draw together
    huddle together.
    • let's huddle together--it's cold!
  4. verb crouch or curl up
    cower.
    • They huddled outside in the rain

WordNet

Hud"dle intransitive verb
Etymology
Cf. OE. hoderen, hodren, to cover, keep, warm; perh. akin to OE. huden, hiden, to hide, E. hide, and orig. meaning, to get together for protection in a safe place. Cf. Hide to conceal.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Huddled ; present participle & verbal noun Huddling
Definitions
  1. To press together promiscuously, from confusion, apprehension, or the like; to crowd together confusedly; to press or hurry in disorder; to crowd.
    The cattle huddled on the lea. Tennyson.
    Huddling together on the public square . . . like a herd of panic-struck deer. Prescott.
Hud"dle transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To crowd (things) together to mingle confusedly; to assemble without order or system.
    Our adversary, huddling several suppositions together, . . . makes a medley and confusion. Locke.
  2. To do, make, or put, in haste or roughly; hence, to do imperfectly; -- usually with a following preposition or adverb; as, to huddle on; to huddle up; to huddle together. "Huddle up a peace." J. H. Newman.
    Let him forescat his work with timely care, Which else is huddled when the skies are fair. Dryden.
    Now, in all haste, they huddle on Their hoods, their cloaks, and get them gone. Swift.
Hud"dle noun
Definitions
  1. A crowd; a number of persons or things crowded together in a confused manner; tumult; confusion. "A huddle of ideas." Addison.

Webster 1913