twiddle
verb /ˈtwɪdl/
/ˈtwɪdl/
[intransitive, transitive]Verb Forms
Idioms | present simple I / you / we / they twiddle | /ˈtwɪdl/ /ˈtwɪdl/ |
| he / she / it twiddles | /ˈtwɪdlz/ /ˈtwɪdlz/ |
| past simple twiddled | /ˈtwɪdld/ /ˈtwɪdld/ |
| past participle twiddled | /ˈtwɪdld/ /ˈtwɪdld/ |
| -ing form twiddling | /ˈtwɪdlɪŋ/ /ˈtwɪdlɪŋ/ |
- to twist or turn something with your fingers often because you are nervous or bored
- twiddle with something He twiddled with the radio knob until he found the right programme.
- twiddle something She was twiddling the ring on her finger.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryTwiddle is used with these nouns as the object:- finger
- knob
- thumb
- …
Word Originmid 16th cent. (in the sense ‘trifle’): apparently imitative, combining the notion twirl or twist with that of trifling action expressed by fiddle.
Idioms
twiddle your thumbs
- to move your thumbs around each other with your fingers joined together
- to do nothing while you are waiting for something to happen
- We can't just sit here twiddling our thumbs and hoping everything will be all right.