Green’s Dictionary of Slang

fuddled adj.

drunk.

1620		T. May Heir I i: But did you never come in half fuddled?
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 136: You are never kind to mee, but when you are fuddled, and then you can cogge and dissemble with me, to have your own will, or what you want.
1658		Mennis & Smith ‘Drunken Lover’ Wit Restor’d (1817) 288: Now all is Scripture that she saith / Which I lay hold on, with my fuddled faith.
1661		Pepys Diary 8 Mar. n.p.: Then we set to it again till it was very late; and at last come in Sir William Wale, almost fuddled.
1669		R. L’Estrange Fables of Aesop CLVI 141: A Woman that lay under the Mortification of a Fudling Husband, took him once when he was Dead Drunk; and had his Body lay’d in a Charnel-House.
1675		Woman Turn’d Bully II ii: lov.: The Lawyer’s drunk. good.: No, not so; only a little fuddled.
1691		N. Ward ‘The Poet’s Ramble after Riches’ Writings (1704) 9: The following Point we chanc’d to Pitch on, / (Being half Fuddled) was Religion.
1705–07		N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II:2 10: Hick-up, says Pert, I think I’m fuddl’d.
1713		W. King York Spy 59: They all got as Fuddled as so many Rats in a Wine Cellar.
1726		Select Trials at Old Bailey (1742) III 55: I saw that he was very much fuddled, and therefore desired him to take a Coach.
1732		Proceedings at Sessions (City of London) Feb. 84/2: They were both drunk [...] then the Deceas’d fell over him, for they were both fuddled and stagger’d. [Ibid.] July 150/2: Court. Was you nor fuddled? Barter. No, I was sober as a Judge.
1747		H. Simms Life of Henry Simms/Alias Young Gentleman Harry 8: I [...] went to M— K—g’s, where I found two Rakes pretty much fuddled.
1754		Proceedings Old Bailey 4 Dec. 40/1: She would come fuddled to the shop.
1761		Nancy Dawson’s Jests 13: A gentleman very much fuddled.
1770		Gent.’s Mag. 559: To express the condition of an Honest Fellow, and no Flincher, under the Effects of good Fellowship, it is said that he is 1 Drunk, 2 Intoxicated, 3 Fuddled. [Ibid.] 560: As fuddled as an Ape.
1788		G.A. Stevens Adventures of a Speculist II 167: Prudence denied he was ever fuddled in his life.
1794		Chester Chron. 5 Dec. 4/2: Walter got fuddled.
1805		J. Davis Post Captain (1813) 163: Caesar [...] was in the high road to get fuddled.
1810		‘The Quay-side Shaver’ Garland of New Songs (1) 2: Join’d in with Tom Hoggarts and little Bob Nackers, / Who wander the streets in their fuddling gills.
c.1815		J.K. Paulding Bucktails (1847) III ii: Enter [...] The admiral fuddled – the rest somewhat gay.
c.1820		in Holloway & Black II (1979) 111: [song title] The Fuddling Day.
1824		‘A Pembrochian’ Gradus ad Cantabrigiam 20: Now when he comes home fuddled, alias Bosky, I shall not be so unmannerly as to say his Lordship ever gets drunk.
1833		A. Greene Life and Adventures of Dr Dodimus Duckworth II 176: He was seldom downright drunk; but was often [...] confoundedly fuddled.
1842		Flash (N.Y.) 10 July 3/4: The next was a countryman, pretty well fuddled, who had just been bilked by Josephine — out of fifty cents.
1856		G.G. Foster N.Y. by Gas-Light (1990) 85: The half-frightened and half-fuddled country merchant.
1859		Newcastle Guardian 8 Oct. 8/3: They promised him £30 for his vote, but got him ‘fuddled’.
1864		A. Bensell diary in Barth All Quiet on the Yamhill (1959) 4 July 164: All got gloriously fuddled.
1870		Mercury (Hobart) 23 Apr. 2/5: [from the Stranraer Free Press] [...] on the fuddle [...] fuddled.
1876		‘Mark Twain’ Tom Sawyer 92: If he’s as much stunned with the lick and fuddled with the rum as he had the look of being, he won’t think of the knife.
1879		E. Waugh Chimney Corner 125: Me fuddle’t, Billy! me fuddle’t,— nought o’ th’ sort, owd buck-stick, — I can see a hole through a ladder, yet.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 151: I blakked Polly S—’s peepers who called me names she was fuddled and hit me fust.
1896		E. Pugh Man of Straw 98: Not once had he [...] returned to roost later than one o’clock in the morning, and never more than half fuddled.
1901		A. Binstead More Gal’s Gossip 86: He was just fuddled enough to make mistakes possible.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Oct. 1/1: Having arrived fuddled at an East Perth Flossery thay paid for small pommery.
1918		‘Sapper’ Human Touch 120: Slightly fuddled on vin blanc.
1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 79: He staggered through the hut to his bed [...] All thought him merely fuddled.
1937		R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 130: He was fuddled himself, but he semed to be holding it.
1943		H.A. Smith Life in a Putty Knife Factory (1948) 76: He couldn’t quite puzzle it out, being still slightly fuddled.
1959		S. Bellow Henderson The Rain King 38: I was fuddled.
1968		P. Larkin letter 4 Oct. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 405: Now I drink, but much less. I had begun to be fuddled twice a day, and sometimes three times, and it had stopped being a pleasure.
1982		P. Barker Union Street 193: He gaped at her, too fuddled to take the situation in.
1999		Observer Rev. 18 July 7: There’s the feeble old biddy who is fuddled with drink.