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Noun etymology 1 sense 1 is possibly from nod (“to incline the head up and down; to gradually fall asleep”) + -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns or familiar names); or a shortening of noddypoll, an obsolete alteration of hoddypoll (“fumbling, inept person”). The origin of noun etymology 1 sense 2 is uncertain; it is possibly derived from etymology 1 sense 1. Compare muggins (“fool, idiot; card game based on building in suits or matching exposed cards, the object being to get rid of one’s cards”). The origin of the adjective is uncertain; it is possibly also from nod (verb) + -y (suffix meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). The verb is derived from noun etymology 1 sense 1.

From nod (“to incline the head up and down; to gradually fall asleep”) + -y (suffix forming diminutive nouns or familiar names; and meaning ‘of or relating to’ forming adjectives). Noun etymology 2 sense 1 (“tern of the genus Anous”) possibly refers to the nodding behaviour of the birds during courtship. Etymology 2 sense 3 (“fellatio”) refers to the nodding motion of the head of a person performing the sex act. Etymology 2 sense 5 (“cutaway scene of a television interviewer nodding”) was coined by the English cultural theorist and media scholar John Fiske (1939–2021) in 1987. Etymology 2 sense 6.2 (“state of being asleep”) is possibly a pun on etymology 1, noun sense 2.2.1 (“sexual intercourse”).