| 释义 |
▪ I. twiddle, n.|ˈtwɪd(ə)l|
[f. twiddle v.1]
An act of twiddling; a twirl or twist; also, a curl, a twirled mark or sign; a ‘grace’ in music.
1774T. Twining in Recreat. & Stud. (1882) 30 Purcell, with all his old curls and twiddles, is perfection to him. 1849Thackeray Dinners Wks. 1901 VI. 646 The coaxing twiddle which they give to the ties of their white chokers. 1893Spectator 28 Jan. 101/2, ‘e’ for ‘æ’ is just as much a contraction as ‘r’ with a twiddle for ‘rum’. 1903Daily Chron. 11 Dec. 7/2 A curious-looking diagram..with a few spots or twiddles on the light part of it. 1908[see dynamics 3]. 1975New Yorker 21 Apr. 115/1 She adds to Rossini's tense exclamations a cascade of pretty twiddles.
▪ II. twiddle, v.1|ˈtwɪd(ə)l|
Also 6 twydle, 9 tweedle.
[App. onomatopœic, intended to combine the idea of twirl or twist with that of trifling action, as in fiddle, piddle. Both verb and n. (see prec.) are very rare before the 19th c.]
1. intr. To be busy about trifles; to trifle; also to twiddle with or twiddle at = sense 2.
c1540J. Redford Mor. Play Wit & Sc. (Shaks. Soc.) 18 As for her syngyng, pypyng, and fydlyng, what unthryftynes therin is twydlyng? a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Twiddle,..to be busy and bestow seeming pains about the merest trifles... ‘What are you twiddling about there?’ 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxii, Even in the midst of his terror he began mechanically to twiddle with his hair. 1865Le Fanu Guy Dev. ii, The Baronet twiddled at his whisker..in the glass. 1874Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. viii. (1879) 373 The hands..may often be seen unconsciously stealing upwards to ‘twiddle’ with their watch-keys.
2. trans. To cause to rotate lightly or delicately; to turn (anything) about, esp. with the fingers; to twirl; to play with idly or absently; also, to adjust or bring into some place or condition by twirling or handling lightly.
1676Wiseman Chirurg. Treat. iii. ii. 220 With my fingers upon the Stupe I pressed close upon it, and twiddled it in first one side, then the other. 1814L. Hunt Feast of Poets 6 He fell twiddling a sunbeam as I may my pen. 1824Beddoes Let. Feb., in Poems (1851) p. xxx, The sign of a fellow tweedling a mask in his fingers. 1840F. Trollope Widow Married xiv, The quilling of her tulle..twiddling it into becoming shape. 1851D. Jerrold St. Giles xvii. 182 He twiddled the reins between his fingers. 1860Thackeray Round. Papers, Tunbridge Toys 62, I..amused myself with twiddling round the moveable calendar. 1886G. Allen Maimie's Sake xii, With one hand twiddling his watch-chain nervously.
b. fig. To twist, twirl, in various senses. Also Sc., to diddle or do (one) out of something.
1825Jamieson s.v., ‘He tried to twiddle me out of my money.’ 1885Times 12 Dec. 5 After being twiddled between the thumbs of two Conferences. 1891Sheffield Gloss. Supp. s.v. Tweedle, ‘I can tweedle him round my thumb.’ 1898Daily News 11 Nov. 3/4 They can twiddle the facts about so that you don't know where you are. 1901‘R. Connor’ Man fr. Glengarry xi, Bella just twiddled her father round her finger.
c. to twiddle one's thumbs, or fingers, to keep turning them idly around each other; fig. to have nothing to do, to be idle.
1846D. Jerrold Mrs. Caudle xxii, You'd have all the world do nothing half its time but twiddle its thumbs. 1849Cupples Green Hand ii, The..cotton-grower twiddled his thumbs and looked modestly down on the deck. 1883Stevenson Lett. (1901) I. vi. 284, I have to twiddle my fingers and play patience. 1904Times 15 June 4/1 We didn't twiddle our thumbs much that week.
3. intr. To move in a twirling manner; to turn about in a light or trifling way.
1812W. Tennant Anster F. iv. lv, Five hundred fingers..Play twiddling up and down on hole and bore. 1844Thackeray Contrib. to Punch Wks. 1901 VI. 56 A few wretched little vessels are twiddling up and down. 1848― Bk. Snobs xxiv, She..made a majestic curtesy, during which all the bugles in her awful head-dress began to twiddle and quiver. 1876Smiles Sc. Natur. xiii. (ed. 4) 261 Away went the bird, twiddling and straddling. 1887Suppl. to Jamieson, Tweedle, to work in a trifling, careless, or slovenly manner. 1907F. Campbell Sheph. of Stars 146 [The donkey's] very ears twiddled with laughter.
Hence ˈtwiddling ppl. a., that twiddles; twirling; also, trifling, paltry; also ˈtwiddler, one who or that which twiddles; in quot. 1904, a twirling delivery of the ball at Cricket, a ‘twister’.
1844Thackeray Little Trav. i, A lady in a little twiddling Parisian hat and feather. 1848Mustachio-twiddler [see mustachio 3]. 1851J. Colquhoun Moor & Loch (1880) I. 70 There is..the uncertainty whether the next point may be the red, or the ‘jetty, heath-cock’, or whether a twiddling snipe may spring. 1862H. Marryat Year in Sweden I. 81 The wishiwashy lady with little twiddling curls round her face. 1862G. Meredith Modern Love xxxiv, Time leers between, above his twiddling thumbs. 1904Daily Chron. 29 June 4/1 Reputable batsmen going out to Jephson's twiddlers.
▪ III. ˈtwiddle, v.2
[Imitative, or modification of tweedle v.1 after prec.]
intr. To twitter or warble; to play triflingly on an instrument; to talk in a trifling or inept manner.
1863J. R. Wise New Forest App. i. 287/2 The robins are twiddling,..which fact is said to be a sign of rain. 1873C. Keene Let. in G. S. Layard Life vii. (1892) 150 You have the great advantage of having already twiddled on the flute. 1893Nat. Observer 4 Mar. 386/2 The mob that twiddles of Ibsen will to-morrow shout of the morals of sculpture. |