▪ I. twirl, n.
(twɜːl)
Also 6, 8 twirle, 7 twerle.
[f. twirl v.1]
a. The action or an act of twirling, or the condition of being twirled; a rapid whirling or spinning; a twist; a spin; a whirl; also fig.
| 1598 Florio, Giro,..a twirle. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com., City Circle 136 A Grave Old Gentleman..gave his Whiskers a Twirl. 1709–10 Steele Tatler No. 128 ¶4 The dextrous Twirl of your Mop. 1775 Adair Amer. Ind. 400 He commonly sends it [ball] the right course, by an artful sharp twirl. 1818 Moore Fudge Fam. Paris v. 2 Like a tee-totum, I'm all in a twirl. 1827 Southey Devil's Walk x, Satan gave thereat his tail A twirl of admiration. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop viii, He performed..such spins and twirls as filled the company with astonishment. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xiv. (1856) 106 A ballet-dancer in full twirl. |
b. Anything that twirls or is twirled; † a reel, winch (obs.); each of the whorls of a shell; a curved line. Also fig.
steam twirl, a revolving steam-heated cylinder for mixing materials in soap-making (Cent. Dict., Supp. 1909).
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xxii. (Roxb.) 277/2 An Instrument called a Twerle, or Line Reeles: It is to wind a long line of a fishing Rod vpon. 1696 Phil. Trans. XIX. 188 The inner Twirls of which Shell were preserved entire. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Arianism 12 Athanasius's Creed is a Twirle of Words. a 1728 Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils ii. (1729) 37 The Twirl in this is different from that of the others;..the Twirls turning from the Right⁓hand to the left. 1841 Carlyle Misc., Baillie (1857) IV. 230 Not a twirl in that cramp penmanship. |
c. Criminals' slang. A skeleton key. Cf. twirler b.
| 1879 Autobiogr. of Thief in Macmillan's Mag. Oct. 502/2 It was now that I got acquainted with the use of twirls (skeleton-keys). 1923 J. C. Goodwin Sidelights xxvi. 165 In the room Bill cracked with his twirls we piped a pater. 1980 P. Kinsley Vatchman Switch x. 82 She scarcely heard him open the old lock..with the set of ‘twirls’. |
d. slang. A prison warder.
| 1891 J. Bent Criminal Life 272 Will you go and tell Dutch Doll to come up to try and get me a right twirl (good warder)... There is a twirl here from another stir. 1933 G. Ingram Stir xi. 160 I'm standing orderly on this landing and the twirl'll do anything for me. 1962 John o' London's 25 Jan. 82/2 Prison officers..are sometimes referred to as twirls. |
e. A cake in the shape of a twirl.
| 1973 E.-J. Bahr Nice Neighbourhood ii. 20 My Viennese aunt's recipe for butter twirls. 1979 M. Ingate Tomb of Flowers i. 8 All kinds of rolls and buns..twirls that went round and round with currants in between. |
▪ II. twirl, v.1
(twɜːl)
Forms: 6 twyrle, 6–8 twirle, 7 twurl, 7–8 twerle, 7– twirl.
[Of obscure origin: perh. merely imitative (or an alteration of turl tirl v.3) after whirl. The initial t- and late appearance of the word are against direct connexion with Continental synonyms from the stem þwer-: cf. thwerl v.]
1. intr. To rotate rapidly, to spin; to be whirled round or about; also to turn round quickly so as to face or point the other way; also fig. of the mind or head: to be in a whirl, be confused or giddy.
| 1598 Florio, Girare,..to twirle about, to wander. Ibid., Girellare, to twirle or gire about. 1611 Cotgr., Pirouetter, to whirle, twirle, turne swiftly about. 1621 Markham Hunger's Prev. 117 Vpon the least touch it will twerle and tourne as round as any Scopperill. 1639 S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 307 A Labyrinth where mens spirits twirle about and stray into acts so unreasonable, that they end in folly. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 466 ¶6 Such Impertinents as fly, hop, caper, tumble, twirl,..and..play a thousand Pranks. 1791 Cowper Iliad xxiii. 1047 His staff That twirling flies. 1792 F. Burney Diary V. vii. 299 A grave man's voice behind me said, ‘Is not that Miss Burney?’ I twirled round and saw the Bishop of Dromore. 1830 Scott Demonol. viii. 235 Dost thou not twirl like a calf that hath the turn? 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xx. 142 The [compass] needle..sometimes twirling swiftly round. 1879 G. Meredith Egoist III. xi. 240 My head twirls; I did unwisely to come out. |
b. The verb-stem used adverbially.
| 1806 Bloomfield Wild Flowers Poems (1845) 190 Twirl went his stick. |
2. trans. To cause to rotate or spin; to turn (an object) round rapidly; to turn about in the hands; to spin between the finger and thumb, etc.; to twiddle idly or playfully.
| a 1623 Fletcher Love's Cure iii. iii, Her sighs, powerful as the violent North, Like a light feather twirl me round about. 1647 H. More Poems 196 'Bout which are hurld [the planets]..round on their own axes twurld. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 55 Hairs..are..angular and corner'd, which you may even perceive by your fingers, by twirling a Horse⁓hair in them. 1716 Gay Trivia ii. 422 When..dexterous Damsels twirle the sprinkling Mop. 1797 Coleridge Christabel i. 48 There is not wind enough to twirl The one red leaf. 1812 H. & J. Smith Rej. Addr. ix. (1873) 85 Roll thy hoop, and twirl thy tops. 1832 G. R. Porter Porcelain & Gl. 184 The workman then dexterously twirls the punt.., the glass yields to the centrifugal impulse. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) II. v. 57 A boy twirls round his head a bullet at the end of a string. |
b. fig. to twirl (a person) round one's finger: cf. turn v. 9 c, twiddle v.1 2 b.
| 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. ix. 64 Who would not wish to outwit such girls, and to be able to twirl them round his finger? |
c. To turn (one's fingers or thumbs) rapidly about one another; spec. to twirl one's thumbs, as an idle occupation when one has nothing to do. Cf. twiddle v.1 2 c.
| 1777 F. Burney Early Diary, Lett. 27 Mar., Dr. Johnson..has a strange method of frequently twirling his fingers, and twisting his hands. 1816 Remarks Eng. Mann. 26 ‘What can I say?’ ‘Oh! any thing is better than sitting twirling your thumbs like a fool.’ 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike vii. 77 Sitting down demurely..and twirling his thumbs. 1864 M. E. Braddon H. Dunbar iii. 23 Bad thoughts..come fastest when a fellow sits twirling his thumbs. |
d. transf. To shake out or sprinkle by or as by twirling a mop.
| 1762 Churchill Ghost iv. 49 Those, who Physic twirl, Full fraught with death, from ev'ry Curl. 1842 Motley Corr. (1889) I. iv. 117 The archbishop with a little mop or swab twirling water on all the dignitaries. |
3. To twist spirally (threads, etc.); now esp. to twist (the moustache).
| 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair ii. iii, Neuer tuske, nor twirle your dibble. a 1619 Fletcher Mad Lover ii. i, I'll take him And twirl his neck about. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. iv. 271 Sir, said he,..twirling his starched Mustachio, I am the Cavallero [etc.]. 1791 Cowper Odyss. vi. 379 Twirling her fleecy threads Tinged with sea-purple. 1882 Ouida Maremma I. 169 Joconda was silent, as she twirled her flax. 1894 F. M. Elliot Roman Gossip iv. 121 He twirled his long moustache. |
4. To move or cast with a rapid or violent turning motion; to whirl. Now rare.
| 1646 Lilburne Unhappy Game Scotch & Eng. 10 Twerle up your Blew caps, and hurle them up at the Moone. 1648 Herrick Hesper., N.-y. Gift to Sir S. Steward 42 Carouse, Till Liber Pater twirles the house About your eares. 1695 Addison Poems, King 157 Misc. Wks. 1726 I. 13 Crags of broken Rocks are twirl'd on high. 1742 Richardson Pamela III. 392 The Knight following him with Outrage to the Top of a Pair of Stairs, he twirled him from Top to Bottom almost. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xl, She would..twirl away his chair from the fire which he loved to look at. |
5. intr. To twine, coil, curl. rare.
| 1706, a 1719 [see twirled, twirling below]. 1725 Family Dict. s.v. Melon, The Sun will soon draw the Heat of so fresh a Bed to that Degree, that..the two first Leaves..of the Plant will twirl or coffer. 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story iv, His great Spanish cloak..of so prodigious a size that the tail of it, as it twirled over his shoulder, whisked away a lodging-card from the door of the house opposite. 1848 ― Van. Fair lxiv, The monster's hideous tail..writhing and twirling. |
Hence twirled ppl. a., ˈtwirling ppl. a.
| 1611 Cotgr., Giré, veered, or turned..; twirled, whirled, or twyned about. Ibid., Pirouetteux, whirling, twirling, trilling, turning swiftly about. 1706 in Hearne's Collect. 19 Mar. (O.H.S.) I. 205 Fifty to one y⊇ twirl'd tail'd Cur does win. a 1719 Addison Ovid's Metam. iv. 97 The wriggling snake is snatcht on high In eagle's claws,..Around the foe his twirling tail he flings. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xlvi. 291 [Electric] boats, with each of them a twirling fly..fixed to the top of the mast. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) II. xiii. 307 The retention of the retinal impression transforms the little living rod into a twirling wheel. 1897 Q. Rev. July 230 Trying to unravel the twisted and twirled tangle of philosophies of life. |
▪ III. † twirl, v.2 Obs. rare.
[Cf. prec. and tirl v.2 and v.3]
trans. To lay open by rolling or turning back the covering. Also intr. for refl.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §55 Take bothe your handes, and twyrle vpon [read open] his [the sheep's] eye, and if he be ruddy, and haue reed stryndes, in the white of the eye, than he is sounde. Ibid. §68 Her shap..wyll twyrle open, and close agayne. |