Dictionary

twiddly en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˈtwɪd(ə)li/
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From twiddle + -y.

Meanings

1. (informal) Capable of being finely or idly adjusted with the fingers.
   • Through the open doorway Nedda could see […] the back of Mr. Cuthcott in a twiddly chair, surrounded by sheets of paper reposing on the floor, shining like autumn leaves on a pool of water. 1915, John Galsworthy, The Freelands:
   • Radio – with its buttons and twiddly knobs and white noise in between – is on the tip of a huge wave of change, courtesy of the Internet. 2011, Fi Glover, Travels With My Radio: I Am An Oil Tanker:
2. (informal) Having an elaborately twisted form.
   • The design of an indicator is often — indeed usually — thought to be the business of the engineer, perhaps aided by someone — an artist or a "stylist" — who adds an aesthetic touch, a twiddly bit, a strip of chromium, a dash of paint, or better still several dashes in clashing colours, of which a bilious yellow will be one. 1958, New Scientist:
   • Everyone has a computer, everyone has the same software, and everyone thinks they can stick a couple of butterflies onto a twiddly background and they have an illustration. They don't have an illustration; they have decoration. 2010, Lawrence Zeegen, Complete Digital Illustration: A Master Class in Image-Making:
   • It was her nose was the worst. It seemed to have been twisted into a hook with a twiddly bit at the top. 2011, Pamela Haines, Men on White Horses:
3. (informal) In music, having a rapid series of musical notes.
   • The bugle called, a twiddly bit and then one long note. 2011, Gavin Lyall, All Honourable Men:
   • There are moments when the band sounds oddly like its acoustic predecessor, and there are some feints at free jazz, but the most curious episode, unlike any other live Miles I know, is a long spacey improvisation using wood flute, related less to the twiddly studio jams than to the ritual atmospherics of Chicago's creative-music vanguard. 2001 September 7, Kevin Whitehead, “The Gap Band”, in Chicago Reader:

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