Other forms: twirling, twirled, twirls
To twirl is to spin round lightly and gracefully. Twirl around, twirl a baton, give us a twirl.
The movement is light and usually deliberate — twirling a baton, twirling spaghetti on a fork, twirling in a new dress. Give us a twirl is the standard invitation to show off clothes. It differs from whirl, which is faster and less controlled, and from spin, which is neutral. Note twirly; and that the word is Scandinavian in origin and related to the German for a whisk.
1verbtwirlTo spin round lightly and gracefully.
“The little girl twirled in her new dress, watching the skirt spin out around her.”
2nounmovementSuch a movement.
“The dancer finished with a quick twirl and a bow.”
twirl is a light spin.
The word is of Scandinavian origin, related to Norwegian tvirla and to German quirlen, to whisk. The whole family is about light turning motion.
Of Scandinavian origin, akin to Norwegian Nynorsk tvirla, Old High German dweran (German zwirlen, quirlen), Dutch dwarrelen and Icelandic þyrill;{{cite-web |url=http://germazope.uni-trier.de/Projects/WBB/woerterbuecher/dwb/wbgui?lemmode=lemmasearch&mode=hierarchy&textsize=600&onlist=&word=zwirl&lemid=G
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Ways of Moving