▪ I. wriggling, vbl. n.
(ˈrɪglɪŋ)
[f. wriggle v. + -ing1.]
1. The action of the verb in various physical senses; an instance of this.
| 1580 Tusser Husb. 1 b, How to cure the wrigling of y⊇ taile in a sheepe or a lambe. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 427 The Lampreis..get betwene the very mashes [of a net], which with their much winding and wrigling they will wrest wider and wider. 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 67 The wrigling and playing of the Mandril. 1711 Swift Jrnl. to Stella 2 Oct., Lovet, towards the end of dinner, after twenty wrigglings, said [etc.]. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. III. iii. viii. 189 Appetite..is not sharpened by the wriggling of the locomotives. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt i, The wrigglings of a worm. |
2. fig. Evasion; equivocation; shuffling.
| 1866 Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) III. 56 He is..my superior, even in the master art of wriggling. 1895 Advance (Chicago) 7 Feb. 652/2 There is a wriggling that is wrong, as when Peter wriggled from the questioning accusations of the servant girl. |
3. attrib. in allusive use, as † wriggling disease, wriggling mordicancy, wriggling trade.
| 1690 D'Urfey Collin's Walk Lond. i. 17 If any of his Flock were seiz'd By heat, with wrigling Disease. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xxxii. 271 Their..figging Itch, wrigling Mordicancy. 1719 D'Urfey Pills VI. 91, I am a Baker, And..have..a Wrigling-Pole. 1765 [E. Thompson] Meretriciad 40 The fam'd itinerant lass..by her motions in the wriggling trade, Two sterling thousands..made. |
▪ II. ˈwriggling, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
1. That wriggles or squirms; writhing.
| 1565 Golding Ovid's Met. v. 63 b, A wrigling taile streight to his limmes was added more beside. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1292/1 Two wrigling or scralling serpents. 1613 W. Browne Brit. Past. i. v. 102 As an Angler..A wrigling yealow worme thrust on his hooke. 1690 C. Nesse O. & N. Test. I. 42 He assumes..the shape of a wriggling crooked serpent. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 363, I must take care..the little riggling rogue does not slip through my fingers. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi vii. 167 A native emerges out of the moving mass of dead elephant and wriggling humanity. 1888 J. Inglis Tent Life 296 A great wriggling iguana. |
| transf. c 1590 J. Stewart Poems (S.T.S.) II. 71 Thir vrigling werse than plaine sall pass perfyt. |
2. Characterized or distinguished by wriggling or writhing.
| 1608 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Decay 887 As a fell Serpent..With wriggling pase doth still approach his Foe. 1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. ii. 42 A wrigling motion, like that of eels. 1783 Wolcot (P. Pindar) Odes to R.A.'s i. viii, Won with such wry mouths and wriggling pain. 1799 Southey Nondescript, Filbert, Watching two maggots run their wriggling race. 1859 Murchison Siluria (ed. 3) xii. 303 Wriggling movements of a Salamandroid quadruped. 1888 Gunter Mr. Potter xxii. 259 [A dog] with tail and ears and body all wriggling ecstasy. |
| fig. 1688 Miége Gt. Fr. Dict. ii. s.v., He took a wriggling byas in his Letter, which I am not pleased with. c 1869 Swinburne Ess. & Stud. (1875) 289 The wriggling prurience of such lackey's literature as is handed round. |
3. Meandering; tortuous; winding.
| 1640 J. Gower Ovid's Festiv. iii. 48 [Sylvia] came unto the wriggling brook. Ibid. 62 His flow'ry green, Which wriggling Tyber laves. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 5 It is not unlike the crawling of a Snake, it's various Hills and Vallies..seem to borrow that riggling Shape. |
Hence ˈwrigglingly adv.
| 1601 Deacon & Walker Answ. to Darel To Rdr. 4 They..do rather incedere tortuosè, goe wrigglinglie to worke. 1866 Howells Venet. Life v. 73 [He spoke] wrigglingly, and with..gesticulations towards the pit. |