Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To turn over or around idly or lightly; fiddle with: "Couples are twiddling swizzle sticks while waiting for their tables” ( Bryan Miller).
- v. To trifle with something.
- v. To be busy about trifles.
- v. To twirl or rotate without purpose.
- n. The act or an instance of twiddling.
- idiom. twiddle (one's) thumbs To do little or nothing; be idle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To twirl idly; hence, to fiddle or play with.
- To move or propel by repeated light touches.
- To twirl; revolve.
- To play or trifle with something, as by touching or handling; toy.
- To be busy about trifles; quiddle.
- n. A slight twirl with the fingers.
- n. A pimple.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To wiggle, fidget or play with; to move around.
- v. transitive, computing To flip or switch two adjacent bits.
- v. transitive, mathematics To be in an equivalence relation with.
- n. A slight twist with the fingers.
- n. UK, dialect A pimple.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To touch lightly, or play with; to tweedle; to twirl
- v. To play with anything; hence, to be busy about trifles.
- n. A slight twist with the fingers.
- n. Prov. Eng. A pimple.
WordNet 3.0
- v. turn in a twisting or spinning motion
- n. a series of small (usually idle) twists or turns
- v. manipulate, as in a nervous or unconscious manner
Etymologies
- Possibly blend of twist and fiddle. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“On the back of the trim display are two adjusting screws (difficult to see but one is coloured blue) Which one do I 'twiddle' to make the adjustment.”
“~ = tilde (aka "twiddle") ` = backtick what else do we have here ...”
“You could be forgiven for thinking that all we need to do to get better care and lower costs is twiddle our thumbs and wait for all of federal reform to kick in.”
“Review for inFAMOUS, E3 predictions and we twiddle our thumbs.”
Bleep Bleep, Bloop Bloop. Video Games. « Giant Killer Squid - Film, Comics, News, Reviews and more
“Perhaps not much, but one thing he didn't learn at Bain Capital was to twiddle his thumbs because taking action might make somebody mad at him.”
“If the power goes out, how many of us sit at work and twiddle our thumbs because we need the computer?”
“I am in such a twiddle about how I do it, that reading this post has sort of calmed me down.”
“Great interview, Midwinter was an amazing book that I'm glad I took the chance on, to be honest elves don't hold my attention very well (another point in Enge's favour, but that is by the by), but Sturges did a great job that makes me need to read the next book, and even, I should hope, shows there is life in even the oldest tropes, if you just take time to "twiddle knobs".”
“They're paying me by the minute to sit there and twiddle my thumbs.”
“Sit in my house and twiddle my thumbs while my children just climb the walls?”
Last Time I Checked, Babies Were People Too - Her Bad Mother
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘twiddle’.
-
Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
-
Hence
Words with definitions that have a "hence" in them.
hanger, Deet, tripe, spindlelegs, fiddle, store, pluck, snap, villain, link, comedy, particular and 410 more...
-
Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
Scribble, Newfangled, swift, swathe, budget, obstreperous, trickle, rank, covetous, scratch, hunch, dodge and 179 more...
-
slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
-
A Provincial Glossary, 1787
A list of provincial English words that appear in Francis Grose's A Provincial Glossary, with a Collection of Local Proverbs and Popular Superstitions. London, MDCCLXXXVII. Printed for S. Hooper, N...
tharky, velling, cadma, whinnock, caingel, giglet, gill-houter, leasing, leech-way, dellfin, underwood, dilvered and 193 more...
-
caspermilktoast's Words
frenetic, farrago, fandango, ensemble, assay, emulsion, taut, winnow, ridonkulous, ginormous, frisson, idee fixe and 181 more...
-
Twitchy
The (not always so) smoovements; scattered, oscillating, jerky, and unpredictable.
palpitation, scravel, jactitate, pounce, wobble, vibrate, undulate, didder, effleurage, flail, ague, swerve and 169 more...
-
Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
-
Number 9 Dream
By David Mitchell
slag-heap, coracle, unsilt, aquiline, crispen, treatise, hippocampus, fortuitous, megalomania, malinger, dreck, escarpment and 97 more...
-
redtagevent's Words
exiguous, numen, recondite, concatenate, tuistic, interstitial, peroration, asperity, alacrity, expatiate, farouche, rhodomontade and 112 more...
-
Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
-
Nakoo's list of beautiful words.
Just about any word I like at the time.
razbliuto, anaxiphilia, lipothymous, inamorata, acushla, abulia, serendipity, alexithymia, quixotic, idiosyncratic, ad nauseam, equanimity and 305 more...
-
Kaichi's Wordie Darlings, or I'm a Lo...
persnickety, discombobulated, braggadoccio, anthropomorphous, antelucan, confluxible, anomalous, poseur, gallivant, poppycock, falderal, gewgaw and 705 more...
-
Turning and Twisting Tours
words in the nature of double spirals
swift, swerve, swirl, swivel, swarm, swag, swank, swoop, swinge, swarf, spire, esparto and 361 more...
-
Don't Say a Word
Nonverbals!
shrug, wink, smile, pucker, blink, point, nod, gaze, avert, blush, slouch, straighten and 20 more...
-
bettyann9's Words
disapparate, sepulchral, plump, sophomoric, feckless, defenestration, pickle, adipsic, ungulate, twiddle, piddle, ovine
Tweets
Looking for tweets for twiddle.

hernesheir A pimple. - old term from Suffolk recorded by Grose in his 1787 Provincial Glossary. May 3, 2011