to feel tiddly

9.9

Be a little drunk or dizzy after drinking alcohol

phrasal verb
/fiːl ˈtɪdli/

: estar un poco borracho

After two glasses of wine, I felt tiddly.

Examples

She feels tiddly after just one cocktail.
He knew he'd feel tiddly if he had another pint.
After one glass of wine, she began to feel tiddly and giggled at everything.
It's easy to feel tiddly at family parties with all the toasts.
After one glass of wine, she began to feel tiddly and giggled at everything.
He knew he would feel tiddly if he had another pint.
It's easy to feel tiddly after a few drinks at a party.

Antonyms

sober

269 3.2

Not having drunk alcohol or taken drugs

clearheaded

1 4.9

Able to think clearly and make good decisions

Surface Forms

feel tiddly infinitive

feeling tiddly present participle

feels tiddly third person singular

felt tiddly past

felt tiddly past participle

Morphology

feel + tiddly

The expression combines the verb 'feel' with the adjective 'tiddly' (slightly drunk) in a straightforward verb + adjective construction, so its meaning is directly compositional. This basic grammatical pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer 'to feel slightly drunk.'

Etymology

Feel tiddly may come from a playful old word tiddly from the children's game tiddlywinks, which gave the idea of something small, light and silly. So to feel tiddly means to feel 'slightly drunk' or 'light-headed', like being light and giggly after a drink.