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 connection 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, trans. 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. Mme. D’Arblay, 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 Horsehair 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. TUES 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. Mme. D’Arblay, Early Diary, Lett., 27 March. 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. Ht. Martineau, Manch. Strike, vii. 77. Sitting down demurely … and twirling his thumbs.
1864. Miss Braddon, Henry 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. Mrs. F. 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. Ibid. (1848), Van. Fair, lxiv. The monster’s hideous tail … writhing and twirling.
Hence Twirled ppl. a., Twirling vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1598. Florio, Girata,… a twirling of anything.
1611. Cotgr., Giré, veered, or turned…; twirled, whirled, or twyned about. Ibid., Pirouetteux, whirling, twirling, trilling, turning swiftly about.
1623. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, II. iii. Leave twirling of your hat, and hold your head up, And speak to th’ lady.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 845. The Twisting of Thred; And the Practice of Twirling about of Spindles.
1706. in Hearne’s Collect., 19 March (O.H.S.), I. 205. Fifty to one ye 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.
1822–9. Good, Study Med. (ed. 3), V. 200. The sudden twirlings of the mouth … the jactitating struggle of the limbs.
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.
