What's the difference between twiddle and twirl?

Twiddle


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To touch lightly, or play with; to tweedle; to twirl; as, to twiddle one's thumbs; to twiddle a watch key.
  • (v. i.) To play with anything; hence, to be busy about trifles.
  • (n.) A slight twist with the fingers.
  • (n.) A pimple.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Starved cells suspended in a potassium-free medium respond to the addition of valinomycin by a brief period of vigorous twiddling.
  • (2) Valinomycin-induced twiddling occurs in the absence of external alkali or alkaline earth cations and without significant net synthesis of ATP.
  • (3) Sue Vertue, executive producer for programme-maker, Hartswood Films, said: “It’s taken a little while to get the dates sorted as none of the boys are exactly sitting back twiddling their thumbs but there was unanimous goodwill to make this work so we’re thrilled that 221B is going to be inhabited again.” The filming schedules of the drama’s two leads, who have become big screen stars since the drama first aired on BBC1 in 2010 – Freeman in Peter Jackson’s Hobbit adaptations and Cumberbatch in a variety of films including Star Trek sequel, Into Darkness, has always been seen the principal barrier to future runs of the show.
  • (4) Lipophilic cations bind to the ion gate controlling the twiddle frequency and thereby cause the cells to swim smoothly.
  • (5) Benzema, as if inspired, twiddles his way past a defender in the box and opens fire.
  • (6) That leads to three disasters: it only shunts trust debts to next year; it passes debts this year to hospitals whose surgeons twiddle their thumbs; and waiting lists soar.
  • (7) He pointedly hands me his menu, which I study while he twiddles his thumbs.
  • (8) A simple analytical model is proposed to account for the contribution of the twiddle motion to the correlation function.
  • (9) Daft Punk themselves are in a separate DJ booth twiddling with nobs that surely don't do anything.
  • (10) As a consequence we are able to extract a parameter beta, which measures the average fraction of twiddling bacteria in the center of the band at a given time.
  • (11) Reznor walks me into what he calls his "adult playpen of knob-twiddling": a small garage converted into an Aladdin's cave of instruments, mixing desks and synthesizer modules, their lights winking in the dark.
  • (12) When a furry green puppet eventually emerges, they squeal with delight – although Twiddle the Turtle's message seems to baffle them slightly.
  • (13) And if you want to read a novel (or, OK, twiddle with your phone) on your commute, you should be demanding better public transit, not self-driving cars.
  • (14) The whole thing in France took place in French, he couldn't speak French, so he kind of sat in the corner twiddling his thumbs while I was negotiating and trying to buy a player."
  • (15) He put out the mics and was twiddling the knobs.” The re-mastered Definitely Maybe is out on 19 May.
  • (16) "If you are not currently able to benefit from the RHI and were waiting on new tariffs then what are you meant to do - keep twiddling your thumbs?"
  • (17) The cells move steadily along smooth paths (run), jump about briefly with little net displacement (twiddle), and then run in new directions.
  • (18) They also twiddle, although less vigorously, when the external pH is lowered.
  • (19) Vilma is a "granger" – a term I coined to describe the "grey anger" of those who won't willingly enter the people farms, who don't want to spend their retirement twiddling thumbs and perennially tapping little white balls into a hole in a patch of cultivated grass.
  • (20) Similarly, when starved cells are suspended in a potassium-free medium containing both valinomycin and an attractant, many cells initially run rather than twiddle.

Twirl


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To move or turn round rapidly; to whirl round; to move and turn rapidly with the fingers.
  • (v. i.) To revolve with velocity; to be whirled round rapidly.
  • (n.) The act of twirling; a rapid circular motion; a whirl or whirling; quick rotation.
  • (n.) A twist; a convolution.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Here's Trintignant, twirling his walking stick in one hand and gesticulating with the other; taking issue with this and that.
  • (2) They’re not moustache-twirling villains that are going, “ah ha ha that’s great”, they’re going: “You’re right.
  • (3) She writes: It used to be that evil finance plots at least had the dignity to be conducted in back rooms, with much mustache-twirling and fondling of watch fobs as well as hearty, if ominous laughs.
  • (4) Their scarf-twirling fans were a wedge of Mediterranean colour spliced into a block of Mancunian red.
  • (5) They ranged from the “hmm” to the blatant to the eye-wateringly awful: ‘Hair twirling’ I recall once the suggestion that I ask a question of another team, in a very airy and innocent manner, hair-twirling and all, to try and get a more favourable answer than previously.
  • (6) Recipe supplied by Patrick Hanna, L'Entrepot, lentrepot.co.uk Clams with leek, fennel and parsley Though you could add a twirl of al dente spaghetti or linguine to this dish, it is the fragrant, briny broth that delights – better with a crusty loaf and a spoon.
  • (7) Because of the detrimental effects of self-stimulation (arm flapping, spinning toys, twirling, etc.)
  • (8) Eugenie Bouchard happy to twirl if men flex muscles at Australian Open Read more But the relief was short-lived.
  • (9) Later, during her post-match news conference, Bouchard spoke first about her dominating 6-0, 6-3 win over Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands, then addressed the twirl on Margaret Court Arena.
  • (10) On Friday, while visiting the Dairy Twirl ice cream shop in Lebanon, Clinton was asked why she was not drawing such big crowds.
  • (11) • edbookfest.co.uk , ScottishPower Studio Theatre, Sunday 21 August, 2-3pm, ages 8–12, £4.50 Add a twirl and a twist to the regular zoo visit Enclosure 99, Edinburgh festival, Edinburgh Zoo You can't go wrong with a visit to the zoo, but what if you could grab a show as well while you're checking out the penguins?
  • (12) It would take only a few shedding their twirling fruit to the ground to give this wood its seeds of salvation.
  • (13) Bailey taps into her experience as a prison officer, dresses in her own uniform, and twirls her baton.
  • (14) 4.56pm BST Meanwhile Manuel Pellegrini is running around the pitch, shirt off, twirling it round his head.
  • (15) Bouchard insisted she had not been offended by the request to twirl, but was also happy to focus on her performance after a match which featured six breaks of serve in the first eight games.
  • (16) It was observed in this investigation that moxibustion by electrocautery at Jen Chung (Go-26) produced more significant changes in cardiovascular dynamics in dogs than needling with twirling.
  • (17) As soon as I got the part I was doing horseback riding, trick roping, gun twirling, guitar.
  • (18) The only problem with Hamleys' new proprietor is that it's not a comically malevolent moustache-twirling dolligarch, because such a terrifying place should by rights have a terrifying individual at its head.
  • (19) There was a significant decrease in total peripheral resistance following moxibustion by electrocautery and an initially significant decrease in total peripheral resistance following moxibustion by electrocautery and an initially significant decrease in total peripheral resistance following needling with twirling.
  • (20) Canada’s 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard was left embarrassed when the male presenter conducting her on-court interview at the Australian Open asked her: “Can you give us a twirl?” When the Wimbledon runner-up replied “A twirl?”, the interviewer, Ian Cohen, told her: “A twirl, like a pirouette, here you go.” Somewhat uncomfortably, the No7-ranked player did as she was asked, then laughed and buried her face in her hands.