wriggle
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L330648 on Wikidata ↗verb
- to writhe, squirm
- move part of the body slightly
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈɹɪɡəl/
noun
Etymology: From wrig + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare Dutch wriggelen (“to wriggle, squirm”), Low German wriggeln (“to wriggle”). Related to Old English wrigian (“to turn, wend, hie, go move”), from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną (“to wriggle”).
- A wriggling movement.
verb
Etymology: From wrig + -le (frequentative suffix). Compare Dutch wriggelen (“to wriggle, squirm”), Low German wriggeln (“to wriggle”). Related to Old English wrigian (“to turn, wend, hie, go move”), from Proto-Germanic *wrigōną (“to wriggle”).
- To twist one's body to and fro with short, writhing motions; to squirm.
“Teachers often lose their patience when children wriggle in their seats.”
“Both he and successors would often wriggle in their seats, as long as the cushion lasted.”
- To cause something to wriggle.
“He was sitting on the lawn, wriggling his toes in the grass.”
- To use crooked or devious means.