adjective
- making or tending to make one dizzy: The tower rose to dizzying heights.
adjective, diz·zi·er, diz·zi·est.
- having a sensation of whirling and a tendency to fall; giddy; vertiginous.
- bewildered; confused.
- causing giddiness or confusion: a dizzy height.
- heedless; thoughtless.
- Informal. foolish; silly.
verb (used with object), diz·zied, diz·zy·ing.
- to make dizzy.
adjective -zier or -ziest
- affected with a whirling or reeling sensation; giddy
- mentally confused or bewildered
- causing or tending to cause vertigo or bewilderment
- informal foolish or flighty
verb -zies, -zying or -zied
- (tr) to make dizzy
Old English dysig “foolish, stupid,” from Proto-Germanic *dusijaz (cf. Low German düsig “dizzy,” Dutch duizelen “to be dizzy,” Old High German dusig “foolish,” German Tor “fool,” Old English dwæs, Dutch dwaas “foolish”), perhaps from PIE *dheu- (1) “dust, vapor, smoke; to rise in a cloud” (and related notions of “defective perception or wits”).
Meaning “having a whirling sensation” is from mid-14c.; that of “giddy” is from c.1500 and seems to merge the two earlier meanings. Used of the “foolish virgins” in early translations of Matthew xxv; used especially of blondes since 1870s. Related: Dizzily.
Old English dysigan, from source of dizzy (adj.). Related: Dizzied; dizzying.