Meanings
plural twirls
- A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette.
- Any rotating movement; a spin.
The conductor gave his baton a twirl, and the orchestra began to play.
1 more example
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.
1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 291 - A little twist of some substance; a swirl.
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.
1969, The South African Sugar Journal, volume 53, page 51 - slangA prison guard.
Which was in the main childishness and pettiness, the reason for this was that most of the twirls and the governors had […]
1958, Frank Norman, Bang to rights: an account of prison life, page 67Synonyms: screw
present singular third person twirls · participle present twirling · participle past twirled · past twirled
- intransitiveTo perform a twirl.
- transitiveTo rotate rapidly.
See ruddy maids, / Some taught with dexterous hand to twirl the wheel.
1753, Robert Dodsley, Agriculture1 more example
No more beneath soft eve's consenting star / Fandango twirls his jocund castanet.
1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza XLVII - ball gamesTo pitch.
When the batteries were announced, however, and Herb Pennock of the Boston Red Sox, probably the best pitcher in all baseballdom, was named to twirl for the invading team, we felt we had been tricked.
1949, Mark Raymond Murnane, Ground Swells: Of Sailors, Ships, and Shellac, page 302
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA prison guard.
verbTo twist round.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna sharp bend in a line produced when a line having a loop is pulled tight
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Germanic*þwirilaz“stirring-stick, whisk”
- Englishtwirl
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.
More words from Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian завъртане, пирует
- завъртане (zavărtane)Movement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- пирует (piruet)Movement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- въртя се (vărtja se)to perform a twirl
- завъртам се (zavărtam se)to perform a twirl
- въртя бързо (vărtja bărzo)to rotate rapidly
Czech točit se, otáčet se
- točit seto perform a twirl
- otáčet seto perform a twirl
- zatočit seto perform a twirl
- točitto rotate rapidly
- otáčetto rotate rapidly
- zatočitto rotate rapidly
Esperanto svingiĝo, svingiĝi
- svingiĝoMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- svingiĝito perform a twirl
Finnish pyörähdys, pyörähdellä
- pyörähdysMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- pyörähdelläto perform a twirl
- pyöriäto rotate rapidly
French pirouette, pirouetter
- pirouetteMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- pirouetterto perform a twirl
- faire tournoyerto rotate rapidly
German Pirouette, Drehschwung
- PirouetteMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- DrehschwungMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- einen Wirbel vollführento perform a twirl
- herumwirbelnto rotate rapidly
- schnell herumdrehento rotate rapidly
Greek στριφογυρίζω
- στριφογυρίζω (strifogyrízo)to perform a twirl
Irish sníomh, sníomh
- sníomhto perform a twirl
- sníomhto rotate rapidly
Norwegian virvling, virvle
- virvlingMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- virvleto perform a twirl
Polish wirować
- wirowaćto perform a twirl
Russian враще́ние, кружи́ться
- враще́ние (vraščénije)Movement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- кружи́ться (kružítʹsja)to perform a twirl
- враща́ть (vraščátʹ)to rotate rapidly
- верте́ть (vertétʹ)to rotate rapidly
Spanish pirueta, girar
- piruetaMovement where one spins round elegantly; a pirouette
- girarto rotate rapidly
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with twirl
Cite this entry
twirl. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twirl
“twirl.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twirl. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “twirl,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twirl.
Source: twirl on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.