▪ I. twinkle, n.
(ˈtwɪŋk(ə)l)
Forms: see twinkle v.1
[f. twinkle v.1]
1. a. A winking of the eye; a wink, blink; also, a momentary glance (in quot. 1593, of the mind); cf. blink n.2 2. ? Obs.
| 1548 Thomas Ital. Gram. (1567), Cennare, a nodde or twyncle with the eye. 1593 Queen Elizabeth tr. Boethius v. pr. iv, 112 Vnderstanding..orderly by one twynkell of the mynde, all ouerlookith. 1594 Spenser Amoretti xvi, One of those archers..Ayming his arrow..suddenly, with twincle of her eye, The Damzell broke his misintended dart. 1660 tr. Amyraldus' Treat. conc. Relig. ii. i. 143, I do not conceive an honest man can consent so much as with one twinkle of his eye to such abominations. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 22 ¶1 Her true Lover,..his Heart..waiting for a second Twincle of her Eye. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xiv, An occasional convulsive sigh, or twinkle of the eyelid. |
b. transf. A slight tremulous movement; a twitch, a flicker, a quiver.
| 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. xiii. §1 (1734) 246 Now and then an uncertain Twitch or Twinkle in the Pulse. 1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xi. ix. (1872) IV. 106 The slightest twinkle of Fleury's eyelashes would be duly speeded to Voltaire. |
2. The time it takes to wink; = twinkling vbl. n.1 3; now only in phrase in a twinkle, in the twinkle of an eye.
| c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. iv, Vanish, and return in a twinkle. 1644 Digby Nat. Soul x. §8. 429 That twinkle or moment, in which she becometh an.. inhabitant of the next world. 1679 Dryden Troilus & Cr. iii. ii, Hast not slept to night? wou'd a not (a naughty Man) let it sleep one twinkle? 1681 Otway Soldier's Fort. iv. i, I'll..be with you in a Twinkle. 1903 Pilot 17 Oct. 373/1 The reduction of the military service to two years..ought to be done in a twinkle. 1905 E. Glyn Viciss. Evangeline 166 In the twinkle of an eye we were rolling..to Willis's. |
3. a. An intermittent or transient shining; a sparkle, a scintillation; also, a faint or momentary gleam; a glimmer.
| 1663 J. Heath Eng. Chron. (1691) 76 The King..caused the Twinkles of his Eyes to be put out..by burning Glasses. 1718 Pope Let. to Lady M. W. Montagu 1 Sept., In the very twinkle of one eye of it [your body] there is more wit,..than [etc.]. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. i. 617 He had a roguish twinkle in his eye. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xvii, As the benighted sailor descries the first distant twinkle of the lighthouse which marks his course. 1825 ― Talism. iii, A twinkle in the star of thy nativity, which promises for thee something that is good and gracious. 1858 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. iii. i. (1872) I. 141 A certain twinkle of mirth in the serious eyes. 1860 Mayhew Upper Rhine i. §i. 15 Nor is it possible to catch sight of even so much as a twinkle of the fire. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1864 Burton Scot Abr. II. ii. 169 The broad accent..and its sly twinkles of humour. 1885 G. Meredith Diana xxxiii, Was there a twinkle of probability in the story? 1893 L. S. Keyser in Chicago Advance 3 Aug., The twinkle of wings, the twitter of voices. |
4. A ballroom dance (step), danced to slow Blues music. Also twinkle step.
| 1920 A. E. W. Mason Summons xxi. 220 ‘Do you know the fox-trot?’ ‘A little.’ ‘The twinkle step?’ ‘Not at all.’ 1936 A. Moore Ballroom Dancing v. 214 A Twinkle is a figure of three steps. The feet are closed..on the 2nd step and the weight is changed, and the 1st and 3rd steps are both taken in a forward direction or both in a backward direction. 1962 L. K. Engel Fred Astaire Dance Bk. xv. 47 The Open Twinkle is a slight variation of the basic One Step. 1975 G. Howell In Vogue 9/2 We got syncopated music and what to do to it—the Baleta, the Maxina, the Twinkle, the Jog Trot, the Vampire, [etc.]. |
5. Comb., as twinkle-dress poet. nonce-wd., a sparkling party dress; twinkle roll Aeronautics, an aerobatic stunt (see quot. 1962); twinkle-toed a., light-footed, nimble; (of a dance) quick, requiring agility.
| 1960 S. Plath Colossus 59 When on tiptoe the school⁓girls danced, Blinking flashlights like fireflies And singing the glowworm song, I could Not lift a foot in the twinkle-dress. 1962 Flight International LXXXII. 269/2 Highlights of an outstanding presentation by the Lightnings were the ‘twinkle roll’ in which the two wingmen of a three-aircraft formation rolled individually on either side of their leader as they passed low and fast in front of the crowd. 1978 R. Jansson News Caper 7 The fighter..slid over our port wing and did a twinkle roll in front of our nose. |
| 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 29 Mar. (Suppl.) 10/2 Hand-in-hand with about six other youngsters she was scampering through a twinkle-toed dance which she later informed me is called ‘the shuffle’. 1961 Sunday Express 7 May 14/3 Abandoned, twinkle-toed dancers leaping about. 1978 Lancashire Life Nov. 129/1 John Travolta doesn't have the monopoly of twinkle toed addicts. |
▪ II. twinkle, v.1
(ˈtwɪŋk(ə)l)
Forms: 1 twinclian, 4–6 twinkel, twynkle, twyncle, (4 twyngle, Sc. twinkil, 4–5 twynkel, 5 -kele, -kyl, 5–6 Sc. -kil, 6 -kell, twinckel), 4–8 twincle, 6–8 twinckle, (twingle), 4– twinkle.
[OE. twinclian, freq. of *twincan: see twink v.1 and -le 3.]
1. a. intr. To shine with rapidly intermittent light; to emit tremulous radiance; to sparkle; to glitter; † to shine dimly, to glimmer; to flicker (obs.).
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §3 Ic hire [the door] grapode ymbutan þæ t ðe ic þæt lytle leoht ᵹeseah twinclian. c 897 ― Gregory's Past. C. xiv. 86 Se spearca ðara godra weorca, þe her twinclað [v.r. tuinclað] beforan monnum. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 267 Hise eyen twynkled..As doon the sterres in the frosty nyght. 1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. i, Heigh In the hevynnis figure circulere The rody sterres twynklyng as the fyre. 1551 Recorde Cast. Knowl. (1556) 8 The Fixed starres doo twinkle, and not the Planetes. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 69 Thee twylight twinckled [L. consumta nocte]. 1658 tr. Porta's Nat. Magic xiii. 306 When the Iron is sparkling red hot..that it twinkles. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. i. i. §37. 46 The Flame of a new lighted Candle is [not] the same with that Flame that twinkles last in the socket. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol i. 145 His single Eye Twinkles with Joy. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 251 The green blade that twinkles in the sun. 1818 Scott Rob Roy i, The tear twinkled in his dark eye. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 364 A solitary light which twinkled through the darkness. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vii. 283 His large black diamond eyes..used to twinkle like stars. |
| transf. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke xxiv, He twinkled, and winked, and chuckled. 1871 ‘M. Legrand’ Cambr. Freshm. xvii, A smile twinkled in his eyes. 1889 Barrie Window in Thrums xix. 177 Jess twinkled gleefully over tales of sweethearting. |
b. trans. To emit (radiance, flashes, or beams) rapidly and intermittently; to communicate (a message or signal) in this way.
| a 1547 Surrey Paraphr. Ps. viii. Wks. (1815) 85 Thou mad'st..each one of the wand'ring stars to twinkle sparkles bright. 1632 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 185 The minde..twinkled forth sparkles that argued great flames of excellencies. 1857 G. Meredith Farina viii. 134 A broad fire that twinkled branchy beams through an east hill-orchard. 1894 M. Dyan All in a Man's K. (1899) 162 Not one bright star to twinkle hope and light to him. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 4 Aug. 7/3 The challenge-word..was twinkled..by the luminous dots and dashes from her masthead. |
† c. To vary in twinkling. Obs. rare—1.
| 1665 Hooke Microgr. lviii. 218 The Starrs neer the Horizon, are twinkled with several colours. |
d. poet. To guide or light to some place by twinkling.
| 1690 Dryden Don Sebastian iv. i, The star of love That twinkles you to fair Almeyda's bed. 1818 Keats Endymion iv. 719 Those eyes..Shall be my grief, or twinkle me to pleasure. |
2. a. intr. To close and open the eye or eyes quickly (voluntarily or involuntarily); to make a signal by this means; to wink, blink; also said of the eye or eyes. Obs. or arch.
| a 1300 [see twinkling vbl. n.1 2]. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. iii. 26 (Camb. MS.) She hath now twyncled [v.r. twynkeled] fyrst vp on the with wyckede eye. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxviii. (Margarete) 595, & þis merwale alsone cane be As man mycht twinkil with his e. 1382 Wyclif Prov. vi. 13 He twincleth [1388 bekeneth] with the eȝen. c 1440 Bone Flor. 1750 He twynkylde wyth hys eye, As who seyth, holde the stylle. 1513 Douglas æneis iv. xii. 96 With ene rolling, and twynkilling wp full fane, Assayis scho to spy the hevinis lycht. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1653) 684 They have but one eye-lid, and that groweth from the neather part of the cheek, which by reason of their eyes never twinckleth. a 1625 Fletcher Woman Pleas'd iv. i, I saw the wench that twir'd and twinkled at thee The other day. 1653 R. Sanders Physiogn. 173 Beware of those who, when they speak to thee, twinkle. 1686 Lond. Gaz. No. 2103/4 He is about 17 years old,..near sighted, twinkling with his eyes. 1753 Richardson Grandison (1754) II. x. 64 We hemm'd, handkerchief'd, twinkled. 1772 Test Filial Duty I. 128 He did so simper and twinckle, and was so gallant, that [etc.]. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs II. 309 The old Justice twinkles, hems, coughs, and chuckles. 1815 Scott Guy M. lv, He was observed to twinkle with his eyelids. 1825 ― Betrothed xxxi, Ere an eye could twinkle, his right knee was on the croupe of the Constable's horse. |
b. trans. with the eyes, eyelids, etc., as obj.
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Parpadear, to twinkle the eies. 1846 Landor Imag. Conv., Pope Leo xii & Gigi Wks. I. 347/1 Her little kid ran after the soldier..twinkling its ears and rubbing them between its legs. 1851 Hawthorne Ho. Sev. Gables xiv, Phœbe took leave of the desolate couple;..twinkling her eyelids to shake off a dewdrop. |
3. intr. To move to and fro, or in and out, with rapid alternation; to appear and disappear in quick succession; to flutter, flit, flicker.
In quot. 1799–1805 said of a space filled with moving objects; in quot. 1849 trans. (cf. 2 b).
| 1616 [see twinkling ppl. a. 2]. 1642 in P. H. Hore Hist. Wexford (1900) I. 303 A man might see them through the smoake of the gunpowder run twinckling like the moates in the sun. 1799–1805 Wordsw. Prelude vii. 691 The open space..twinkles, is alive With heads. 1849 Saxe Poems, Rape Lock xix, [She] twinkled a foot in the polka's twirl. 1852 M. W. Savage R. Medlicott v. ii, I love to see the fans fluttering, the ankles twinkling, the bouquets waving. 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. i. 39 Her feet twinkled past each other so fast, that you could not see which was foremost. |
4. intr. Dancing. To perform the twinkle step. temporary.
| 1920 Punch 10 Nov. 366/2 Chassée to the left, two steps forward, two steps back, twinkle each way. Ibid., I quite enjoyed that twinkling business. 1928 B.B.C. Handbk. 1929 201 Wireless dance music is often heard from houses where no one has ever ‘twinkled’ or ‘hesitated’ or ‘glided’ or ‘dragged’. |
▪ III. twinkle, v.2 rare.
(ˈtwɪŋk(ə)l)
Forms: 4 twynkel, 6 twynkle, 6– twinkle.
[Echoic; cf. tinkle v.1]
intr. = tinkle v.1 2, 3. Hence ˈtwinkling vbl. n.
| 13.. K. Alis. 2572 Mury is the twynkelyng [Laud MS. touchyng] of the harpour. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 687 There Cintheus sat twynklyng vpon his harpe stringis. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 61 My wanton warblz, my running, my tyming, my tuning, and my twynkling. 1683 Pettus Fleta Min. i. (1686) 48 When the Grains of such two tryals have twinkled, fresh and clean, then take the Copper out of the oven. 1907 H. Wyndham Flare of Footlights i, An electric bell twinkled warningly.., and there was a general move towards the stalls and circle. |