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twirl

noun, verb — 8 senses

twirl

noun

UK /twɜːl/ · US /twɝl/

Etymology Of Scandinavian origin, akin to Norwegian Nynorsk tvirla, Old High German dweran (German zwirlen, quirlen), Dutch dwarrelen and Icelandic þyrill; all from Proto-Germanic *þwirilaz (“stirring-stick, whisk”), *þweraną (“to stir”). Or, an alteration of tirl (“to twist”), with influence from whirl.

1

A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette.

2

Any rotating movement; a spin.

  • The conductor gave his baton a twirl, and the orchestra began to play.
  • When the cock had now crowed for the third time, and the little larks had made their first twirl in the sky, and the infant light appeared in solitary white streaks in the east, then it went hush, hush, hush, through the bushes, and flowers, and stalks; and the hills rang again, and opened, and the little men went down.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 291:
3

A little twist of some substance; a swirl.

  • Place the cream in a piping bag with a fairly large star pipe attached, fill each tartlet with a twirl of cream and top with a strawberry.1969, The South African Sugar Journal, volume 53, page 51:
4

Slang A prison guard.

  • Which was in the main childishness and pettiness, the reason for this was that most of the twirls and the governors had […]1958, Frank Norman, Bang to rights: an account of prison life, page 67:
Derived terms
atwirl, querl, squirl, twirlable, twirler, Twirlgate, twirlingly, twirl one's thumbs, twirly, untwirl, uptwirl

twirl

verb

Etymology Of Scandinavian origin, akin to Norwegian Nynorsk tvirla, Old High German dweran (German zwirlen, quirlen), Dutch dwarrelen and Icelandic þyrill; all from Proto-Germanic *þwirilaz (“stirring-stick, whisk”), *þweraną (“to stir”). Or, an alteration of tirl (“to twist”), with influence from whirl.

1

To perform a twirl.

2

To rotate rapidly.

  • See ruddy maids, / Some taught with dexterous hand to twirl the wheel.1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture:
  • No more beneath soft eve's consenting star / Fandango twirls his jocund castanet.1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XLVII:
3

To twist round.

  • He inflated his chest, twirled his moustache, and thumped the table with a revulsion to thunderous indignation.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 85:
4

Ball games, Baseball, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To pitch.

  • When the batteries were announced, however, and Herb Pennock of the Boston Red Sox, probably the best pitcher in all baseballdom, was named to twirl for the invading team, we felt we had been tricked.1949, Mark Raymond Murnane, Ground Swells: Of Sailors, Ships, and Shellac, page 302:
Derived terms
twirl one's moustache

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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