▪ I. twangle, n.
(ˈtwæŋg(ə)l)
[Cf. twangle v.]
A twangling sound; a continuous or repeated resonant sound, usually lighter or thinner than a twang; a jingle.
| 1812 Colman Lady of Wreck ii. xxvi, Loud, on the heath, a twangle rush'd That rung out Supper..From the crack'd bell. 1873 All Year Round 18 Oct. 590/1 What gives that thin twangle to the sound? 1883 G. W. Cable in Century Mag. XXVII. 55 That sight touched the pathetic chord of his heart with a rude twangle. |
▪ II. twangle, v.
(ˈtwæŋg(ə)l)
Also 6 twancle, 9 dial. twankle (Eng. Dial. Dict.).
[dim. and freq. of twang v.1 (see -le), describing a resonant sound of the nature of a twang, but thinner and continuous or repeated. Used with contemptuous force.]
1. intr. Of a stringed instrument or one who plays it: To twang lightly and continuously or frequently; to jingle.
| 1558 T. Phaer æneid vi. R ij b, Rimes thei sown And Orpheus among them stands, as priest in trayling gown. And twancling makes them tune. 1576–1610 [see twangling ppl. a.]. 1823 Scott Peveril xxii, The coxcomb is twangling it on the lute. 1824 Blackw. Mag. XV. 160 The guitar..is twangling on every side. 1868 Tennyson Last Tourn. 251 He twangled on his harp. |
2. trans. To twang (a stringed instrument) lightly; to play upon in a petty or trifling manner. Also to play (a melody) in this way. Also fig.
| 1607 [see twangling vbl. n.]. 1829 Scott Anne of G. xxx, The King looked after him, with some wonder at this want of breeding,..and then again began to twangle his viol. 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story ii, The young Andrea bears up gaily..; twangles his guitar. 1874 Ruskin Fors Clav. xlvii. 259 To..find you a barrel-organ, or a harmonium, to twangle psalm-tunes on. |
Hence ˈtwangling vbl. n.; also ˈtwangler, one who twangles.
| 1594 Lyly Moth. Bomb. v. iii, What a mischiefe make the twanglers [fiddlers] here? 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 104 Not the twangling of religion vpon the tongue, but the practise of holinesse in the life. 1825 Scott Betrothed xxi, Such twangling of harps as would be enough to frighten our walls from their foundations. 1871 Ruskin Fors Clav. vi. 17 He supposed David's ‘twangling upon the harp’ would have been unsatisfactory to modern taste. 1879 E. Arnold Lt. Asia i. (1881) 7 Beaters of drum, and twanglers of the wire. 1881 Ruskin in Mather Life (1897) 102 A twangler or scratcher on keys or cat-gut. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn lxiii, Vindex..described Nero as a wretched twangler on the harp. |