Dictionary

moustache-twirling en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio

Etymology

The act being a visual trope in film parodies of villains from 19th century melodrama.

Meanings

1. (colloquial, figuratively) Behavior associated with villainy.
   • When it comes to accounting, there are four major suitors for the hand of small business. All promise paradise in day-to-day bookkeeping and vow to keep you on the right side ol that moustache-twirling Revenue Canada. 1997 March 14, Douglas Alder, Computer Player!:
   • And during the final story of the season, The Ultimate Foe, talk about hand-wringing, moustache-twirling, melodramatic villain laughs! 1987 August 14, Doctor Who Magazines:
   • Now, Walter Huston is not of the eyebrow-waving school of cinema actors. He does not go in for moustache-twirling nor nostril-quivering. His is a strong, forceful character. He is not a magazine-cover lad. 1937 February 14, American Society of Cinematographers, Inc., American Cinematographer (Feb 1937):
   • In 1863, Caroline wrote a novel she hoped would support her campaign. In Lost and Saved, Beatrice Brooke elopes with dastardly, moustache-twirling Montagu Treherne. 2017, Samantha Ellis, Take Courage : Anne Brontë and the Art of Life:
2. (qualifier:literal) An instance of twirling one's moustache.

Forms

Relateds

pantomime villain