twirl
/twɝl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.69 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette.
verb
To pitch.
Example Sentences
- "The conductor gave his baton a twirl, and the orchestra began to play."
- "When the cock had now crowed for the third time, and the little larks had made their first twirl in the sky, and the infant light appeared in solitary white streaks in the east, then it went hush, hush, hush, through the bushes, and flowers, and stalks; and the hills rang again, and opened, and the little men went down."
- "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."
- "Which was in the main childishness and pettiness, the reason for this was that most of the twirls and the governors had […]"
- "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."
Etymology
Of 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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *þwirilaz
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /twɝl/
- British English: /twɜːl/