30 November 2017
twiddle
[twid-l]
verb (used with object), twiddled, twiddling.
1. to turn about or play with lightly or idly, especially with the fingers; twirl.
verb (used without object), twiddled, twiddling.
2. to play or trifle idly with something; fiddle.
3. to turn about lightly; twirl.
noun
4. the act of twiddling; turn; twirl.
Idioms
5. twiddle one’s thumbs, to do nothing; be idle:
Business was slack, and the salespeople were twiddling their thumbs.
Origin of twiddle
1530-1540; perhaps blend of twitch and fiddle
Related forms
twiddler, noun
Dictionary.com
Examples from the Web for twiddle
Contemporary Examples
We cannot dither, we cannot just twiddle our thumbs, or wait and see.
After Steven Sotloff Murder, Congress Demands a Vote on Obama’s ISIS War
Josh Rogin
September 1, 2014
Historical Examples
A man who has been active hates 270 to sit down and twiddle his thumbs.
The Place of Honeymoons
Harold MacGrath
Then I did remember more or less, while Hans continued to twiddle the hat.
The Ivory Child
H. Rider Haggard
I twiddle your little good Andrew to assert it for us twenty times a day.
Evan Harrington, Complete
George Meredith
Get under the pilot an’ sort o’ twiddle ye off the track, don’t they?
The Day’s Work, Volume 1
Rudyard Kipling
Waiting the answer, he joined his hands, and began to twiddle his thumbs.
The Wandering Jew, Complete
Eugene Sue
And the rest of us are to sit and twiddle our thumbs while you soliloquize?
The Idiot at Home
John Kendrick Bangs
On the other side he could twiddle his fingers at the corporal, who dared not pursue.
The Sheriff of Badger
George B. Pattullo
And I think, by then, she’ll be able to twiddle over them wires by herself.’
The Wanderer (Volume 2 of 5)
Fanny Burney
They simply reach into our minds and twiddle around and—zoop!
The Slizzers
Jerome Bixby
Today’s quote
A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.
– Oscar Wilde
On this day
30 November 1835 – birth of Mark Twain, U.S. novellist, author of ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ and ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’. Died 21 April 1910.
30 November 1874 – birth of U.K. Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill. Died 24 January 1965.
30 November 1900 – death of Oscar Wilde, Irish writer and poet. Wilde wrote a number of plays, poems and epigrams. His only novel was ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’. His plays included ‘The Importance of Being Ernest’, and ‘Salome’. In addition to English, he was fluent in German and French. In 1895, Wilde was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ which related to some of his homosexual relationships. He received the maximum sentence of two years hard labour. On his release from prison in 1897, Wilde moved to Paris, living in exile and poverty. He died on 30 November 1900 from cerebral meningitis. He was buried at Cimetière de Bagneux, but in 1909 his remains were transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. He was born on 16 October 1854.
30 November 1936 – Crystal Palace in Britain is destroyed by fire. The Crystal Palace had been constructed for the Great Exhibition in 1851 and featured the first public toilets in England. During the Exhibition, visitors were able to pay 1 penny to use the conveniences. It was from this that the term ‘spend a penny’ came into use as a euphemism for visiting the loo.
30 November 1950 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces that he is willing to use atomic bombs to bring peace to Korea.
30 November 1979 – Pink Floyd releases their cult album ‘The Wall’, which was later made into a movie and one of the greatest stage-shows of all time. The songs were written by Rogers Waters and Dave Gilmour. Roger Waters performed ‘The Wall’ stage-show with other celebrities on 21 July 1990 in Berlin, to celebrate the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
30 November 2007 – death of U.S. daredevil, Evel Knievel from breathing difficulties. Knievel was best known for his failed attempt to jump over the Grand Canyon on a rocket-propelled motor-bike. He also successfully, and often unsuccessfully, attempted long distance motor-bike jumps, such as jumping 14 buses. Through his career, Knievel broke 35 bones. Born on 17 October 1938 as Robert Craig Knievel.