Tweedle

Part of speech: verb, noun

Definitions

1. To produce a light, trilling musical sound on a pipe or whistle, or to sing in a bird-like warble ; a thin, trilling musical note or the sound made by such playing
2. Playing a simple, fluttering melody on a pipe or whistle, or chirping like a songbird ; the faint, warbling sound such a tune or call produces
3. To pipe a short, lilting tune or warble as a bird does ; a soft, trilling musical sound produced by a whistle, pipe or birdsong

Etymology: "Tweedle" is a sound-word: its origin lies in the noise it describes rather than in any older language. Its form is generally thought to be imitative, the sort of repeated trilling syllable that a whistle or a pipe seems to make. Its shape is shared with a family of similar words, including "teedle," "toodle," and "twiddle," which all seem to suggest small, light, rapid movement or sound. The word is also likely to have been influenced by "wheedle," a verb meaning to coax or flatter. The two sit close together in sound and in the idea of soft, persuasive, coaxing music, so it is hard to say how much each shaped the other. Either way, "tweedle" is best understood as a word that came from the sound itself, then drew on the company of its neighbours to settle into its meaning of piping a tune.