different between twiddle vs tiddle

English

Etymology

Unknown. Perhaps a blend of twirl, twist, or twitch +? fiddle.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?tw?d?l/

Verb

twiddle (third-person singular simple present twiddles, present participle twiddling, simple past and past participle twiddled)

1. (transitive) To wiggle, fidget or play with; to move around.
   • 1942, Emily Carr, The Book of Small, “Singing,”^[1]

     The harder Small sang, the harder the cow chewed and the faster she twiddled her ears around as if stirring the song into the food to be rechewed in cud along with her breakfast.

2. (transitive, computing) To flip or switch two adjacent bits (binary digits).

   Coordinate term: diddle

3. (transitive, mathematics) To be in an equivalence relation with.
4. (intransitive) To play with anything; hence, to be busy about trifles.

Derived terms

• twiddle one's thumbs
• twiddler
• twiddlesome
• twiddling line

Translations

Noun

twiddle (plural twiddles)

1. A slight twist with the fingers.
2. (Britain, dialectal) A pimple.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

3. A small decorative embellishment.
4. A small musical flourish.
5. A tilde.
6. A drawn line that is curvy or twisted.
7. A tiny bit
8. A tizzy

References

Anagrams

• twidled

English

Etymology

From a variant of tidder. See tid.

Verb

tiddle (third-person singular simple present tiddles, present participle tiddling, simple past and past participle tiddled)

1. (transitive, obsolete or Britain dialect) To treat with tenderness; to fondle.
2. (intransitive, obsolete or Britain dialect) To potter about; to do something idly.

Synonyms

• (to fondle): dawt, faddle, grope, pettle; see also Thesaurus:fondle