huddle. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

huddle

SYLLABICATION:	hud·dle
PRONUNCIATION:	hdl
NOUN:	1. A densely packed group or crowd, as of people or animals. 2. Football A brief gathering of a team's players behind the line of scrimmage to receive instructions for the next play. 3. A small private conference or meeting.
VERB:	Inflected forms: hud·dled, hud·dling, hud·dles
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To crowd together, as from cold or fear. 2. To draw or curl one's limbs close to one's body; crouch. 3. Football To gather in a huddle. 4. Informal To gather together for conference or consultation: During the crisis the President's national security advisers huddled.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	1. To cause to crowd together. 2. To draw (oneself) together in a crouch. 3. Chiefly British To arrange, do, or make hastily or carelessly.
ETYMOLOGY:	From huddle, to crowd together, possibly from Low German hudeln. See (s)keu- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	huddler —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.