Tweedle-dee en · NOUN
Etymology
The names "Tweedledum" and "Tweedledee" first appeared in print in one of John Byrom's epigrams, which satirised the disagreements between Handel and Bononcini. They were made popular by Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.
Meanings
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One of a pair (the other of the pair being Tweedle-dum) of nominally different (often: but practically identical) things.
"She can't tell a Tweedle-dum from a Tweedle-dee."
1999, Katherine Paterson, The king's equal, page 13:Suppose we have any axiom of the form: (2) For every Tweedledee there is a Tweedledum R-related to it. Axioms of the form (2) cut two ways. They can be construed as putting a limit on the Tweedledees: only those exist for which there is an R-related Tweedledum. On the other hand, they can be seen as postulating the existence of a rich collection of Tweedledums. There are so many of them that there is at least one R-related to every single Tweedledee.
1989, Jon Barwise, The Situation in Logic, page 189:Some ſay, compar’d to Bononcini, / That Mynheer Handel’s but a Ninny; / Others aver, that he to Handel / Is ſcarcely fit to hold a Candle: / Strange all this Difference ſhould be, / ’Twixt Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee!
1773, “Epigram on the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini”, in Miscellaneous Poems, Manchester: J. Harrop, pp 343–44How can we get the tweedle-dums and the tweedle-dees together for united action in the interests of the masses of the people?
1907, The Medical world, volume 25, page 216:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tweedle-dees | Number=Plur | lexicographic |