squiggle
/ˈskwɪɡ(ə)l
/noun
A short line that curls and loops in an irregular way: some prescriptions are a series of meaningless squiggles...
- From simple lines to curves, squiggles and intricate designs - she creates endless patterns in no time.
- The line with squiggles on it was said to represent the laying of carpet.
- We had spent the last hour and a half trying to program our computer to make pretty patterns but all we got was a line, a squiggle and crashing computers.
verb [no object] chiefly North American
Wriggle; squirm: a thin worm that squiggled in his palm...
- He said: ‘I'm sick of the others wriggling and squiggling over it.’
- Looks like it squiggled down near that bench over there.
- Vanessa shrieked, bucking and squiggling, kicking and flailing.
Derivatives
squiggly
/ adjective (squigglier, squiggliest) ...- I snapped, irritated, and bent over this journal again, watching my hand shake as I scribbled a long squiggly line across the lined pages.
- I was always fascinated with the written word, even before I could read, and I must have recognised that there was something inherently magical about squiggly symbols organised in lines and packed together like corduroy.
- The bündnerfleisch was well-paired with the cheese, which was shaved off the wheel into little squiggly slices somewhat resembling pencil shavings, of all things.
Origin
Early 19th century: perhaps a blend of squirm and wiggle or wriggle.