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twiddle

 - 4 dictionary results

twid⋅dle

  [twid-l] verb, -dled, -dling, noun
Use twiddle in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to turn about or play with lightly or idly, esp. with the fingers; twirl.
–verb (used without object)
2. to play or trifle idly with something; fiddle.
3. to turn about lightly; twirl.
–noun
4. the act of twiddling; turn; twirl.
—Idiom
5. twiddle one's thumbs, to do nothing; be idle: Business was slack, and the salespeople were twiddling their thumbs.
Origin:
1530–40; perh. b. twitch and fiddle

Related forms:
twiddler, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To twiddle
twid·dle   (twĭd'l)   
v.   twid·dled, twid·dling, twid·dles

v.   tr.
To turn over or around idly or lightly; fiddle with: "Couples are twiddling swizzle sticks while waiting for their tables" (Bryan Miller).
v.   intr.

  1. To trifle with something.

  2. To be busy about trifles.

  3. To twirl or rotate without purpose.

n.  The act or an instance of twiddling.

[Possibly blend of twist and fiddle.]
twid'dler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

twiddle 
c.1540, "to trifle," of unknown origin; of the fingers, first recorded 1676. Fig. phrase twiddle one's thumbs "have nothing to do" is recorded from 1846; to twirl one's thumbs in the same sense is recorded from 1816.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

twiddle
1. The tilde character.
2. (To make) a small or insignificant change. E.g. twiddling a program often fixes one bug and generates several new ones (see also shotgun debugging). Bits are often twiddled. Twiddling a switch or knob implies much less sense of purpose than toggling or tweaking it; see frobnicate. Bit twiddling connotes aimlessness, and at best doesn't specify what you're doing to the bit; to "toggle a bit" has a more specific meaning.
[The Jargon File]
(1995-01-31)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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