Twerk vs Tweak - What's the difference?
twerk | tweak |
(slang, dated, US) A puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.
*1930 , , The Big Barn , page 207:
*:"'...but when they load a pack onto you, what'll you do? A little twerk like you?'"
*1932 , Forum and Century vol. 87 [http://books.google.com/books?ei=fz75RqyPOoWcpgKW19m0Dw]:
*:"But even then the poor twerk' s whiskers and little eyes looked kind of wistful as if the clothes had got him and was taking him somewhere..."
*2003 , Bernard Kamoroff, Small Time Operator [http://books.google.com/books?id=9qlizjnOrVcC], ISBN 0917510186, page 19,
*:You don't need those twerks who walk in off the street.
A fitful movement similar to a twitch or jerk.
*1898 , William Brigham, "Director's Report" in Occasional Papers of the Bernice Pauahi Museum vol. 1 no. 1, page 42:
*:"Not so the Freycineti, who looked me over critically, elevated his head crest, and giving his tail an odd little twerk , proceeded to hop deliberately up the limb like a sap-sucker..."
*1920 , Lilian C. McNamara Garis, The Girl Scouts at Sea Crest: Or, The Wig Wag Rescue [http://books.google.com/books?id=ulYCAAAAYAAJ], page 86,
*:"I hardly realize it yet that you are my really truly coz," and she gave the girl's long, brown braids a familiar twerk .
*1950 , Robert S. Close, Love Me Sailor [http://books.google.com/books?id=ySdBAAAAIAAJ], page 86,
*:With a quick twerk at her shift, the girl lifted it to her rounded belly, and squatted nakedly on his lap.
To twitch or jerk.
*1985 , Criena Rohan, Down by the Docks [http://books.google.com/books?id=ausNAAAAIAAJ], page 151,
*: in the language of the unsophisticated Port Melbourne suburbanite a bed was still something primarily intended for love-making – all the eyebrow-raising and moustache-twerking in Jo'burg couldn't alter that.
*2005 , Florence Hall Abssi, The Call [http://books.google.com/books?id=OyAkYG9lwD4C], page 613:
*:"He twerked an eyebrow at his wife."
To move the body in a sexually suggestive twisting or gyrating fashion.
*2005 , Euftis Emery, Off the Chain [http://books.google.com/books?id=Ib1vEpY4TpwC], ISBN 1411630475, page 73,
*2006 , Lawrence Christopher, Ghettoway Weekend [http://books.google.com/books?id=gOPfQEdpxkwC], ISBN 0971227845, page 96,
*:"Shortie'' really knows how to ''twerk it don't she?" Marcus boasted, while still recording.
* 2006 , :
To dance in a sexually suggestive manner, often involving rapid movement.
*2013', Nichole Smith, ABC News, ''High School Students Suspended for '''''Twerking'' [http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/05/high-school-students-suspended-for-twerking/]
An abrupt call, such as made by the California Quail.
*{{quote-book, year=1961, author=Roger Tory Peterson, title=A Field Guide to Western Birds
passage=Note of male on territory, a loud kurr or twerk .}}
A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.
Trouble; distress; tweag.
A slight adjustment or modification.
(obsolete, slang) A prostitute.
* 1638 , , Barnabae Itinerarium: or Drunken Barnaby's four journeys to the north of England : In latin and english metre , Thomas Gent (1852), page 113:
To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.
(informal) To adjust slightly; to fine-tune.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= 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.
As nouns the difference between twerk and tweak
is that twerk is a puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp while tweak is a sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.As verbs the difference between twerk and tweak
is that twerk is to twitch or jerk while tweak is to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.twerk
English
Etymology 1
.Noun
(en noun)Usage notes
Found primarily in the 1930s-era works of .Etymology 2
(Twerking) .Noun
(en noun)Verb
(en verb)- Gaea then stood up over me and turned so that her butt was facing me. She then had the nerve to start twerking .
- Let me see what ya twerkin with
- Twerking, as it is known in the hip-hop community, is a hard-hitting, rump-shaking dance move that celebrities including Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have been known to bust out, but it has also gotten a group of San Diego high school students suspended.
Usage notes
In “sexually suggestive movements, especially dance”, particularly popularized since c. 2000 by US hip-hop.Derived terms
* twerkerEtymology 3
Onomatopoeia, possibly coined by .Noun
(en noun)citation
tweak
English
Noun
(en noun)- a tweak of the nose .
- He is running so many tweaks it is hard to remember how it looked originally.
- […] Thence to Bautree, as I came there, / From the bushes near the lane, there / Rush'd a tweak in gesture flanting / With a leering eye, and wanton : / But my flesh I did subdue it / Fearing lest my purse should rue it.
Verb
(en verb)Boundary problems, passage=Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art. Perhaps it is fitting that economists’ most-used metric, gross domestic product (GDP), is a tangle too.