/ˈtwɜːl/, /ˈtwɝl/
OriginOf 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.
- A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette.
- Any rotating movement; a spin.
“The conductor gave his baton a twirl, and the orchestra began to play.”
- 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.”
- slangA prison guard.
“Which was in the main childishness and pettiness, the reason for this was that most of the twirls and the governors had […]”
- intransitiveTo perform a twirl.
- transitiveTo rotate rapidly.
“See ruddy maids, / Some taught with dexterous hand to twirl the wheel.”
“No more beneath soft eve's consenting star / Fandango twirls his jocund castanet.”
- transitiveTo twist round.
“He inflated his chest, twirled his moustache, and thumped the table with a revulsion to thunderous indignation.”
- 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.”
Formstwirls(plural) · twirls(present, singular, third-person) · twirling(participle, present) · twirled(participle, past) · twirled(past)