TWEAK

pinch, tweak

(noun) a squeeze with the fingers

tweak, fine-tune

(verb) adjust finely; “fine-tune the engine”

pluck, tweak, pull off, pick off

(verb) pull or pull out sharply; “pluck the flowers off the bush”

tweak

(verb) pinch or squeeze sharply

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

tweak (third-person singular simple present tweaks, present participle tweaking, simple past and past participle tweaked)

(transitive) To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.

(transitive, informal) To adjust slightly; to fine-tune.

(transitive) To twit or tease.

(intransitive, US, slang) To abuse methamphetamines, especially crystal meth.

(intransitive, US, slang) To exhibit symptoms of methamphetamine abuse, such as extreme nervousness, compulsiveness, erratic motion, excitability; possibly a blend of twitch and freak.

(intransitive, US, slang) To exhibit extreme nervousness, evasiveness when confronted by law enforcement or other authority (e.g, customs agents, border patrol, teacher, etc.), mimicking methamphetamine abuse symptoms.

Noun

tweak (plural tweaks)

A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.

A slight adjustment or modification.

Trouble; distress; tweag.

(obsolete, slang) A prostitute.

(cryptography) An additional input to a block cipher, used in conjunction with the key to select the permutation computed by the cipher.

Source: Wiktionary


Tweak, v. t. Etym: [OE. twikken, originally the same word as twicchen; cf. LG. twikken. See Twitch.]

Definition: To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch; as, to tweak the nose. Shak.

Tweak, n.

1. A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch; as, a tweak of the nose. Swift.

2. Trouble; distress; tweag. [Obs.]

3. A prostitute. [Obs.] Brathwait.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

19 June 2025

ROOTS

(noun) the condition of belonging to a particular place or group by virtue of social or ethnic or cultural lineage; “his roots in Texas go back a long way”; “he went back to Sweden to search for his roots”; “his music has African roots”


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Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

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