The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
TWIDDLE
twiddle
(noun) a series of small (usually idle) twists or turns
twiddle, fiddle with
(verb) manipulate, as in a nervous or unconscious manner; “He twiddled his thumbs while waiting for the interview”
twirl, swirl, twiddle, whirl
(verb) turn in a twisting or spinning motion; “The leaves swirled in the autumn wind”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
twiddle (third-person singular simple present twiddles, present participle twiddling, simple past and past participle twiddled)
(transitive) To wiggle, fidget or play with; to move around.
(transitive, computing) To flip or switch two adjacent bits (binary digits).
Coordinate term: diddle
(transitive, mathematics) To be in an equivalence relation with.
(intransitive) To play with anything; hence, to be busy about trifles.
Noun
twiddle (plural twiddles)
A slight twist with the fingers.
(Britain, dialectal) A pimple.
A small decorative embellishment.
A small musical flourish.
A tilde.
A drawn line that is curvy or twisted.
A tiny bit
A tizzy
Anagrams
• twidled
Source: Wiktionary
Twid"dle, v. t. Etym: [Probably of imitative origin. Cf. Tweedle.]
Definition: To touch lightly, or play with; to tweedle; to twirl; as, to twiddle one's thumbs; to twiddle a watch key. [Written also twidle.] Thackeray.
Twid"dle, v. i.
Definition: To play with anything; hence, to be busy about trifles. Halliwell.
Twid"dle, n.
1. A slight twist with the fingers.
2. A pimple. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
3 July 2025
SENSE
(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; “in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing”
Coffee Trivia
