tweak

English

Etymology

From Middle English twikken, from Old English twiccian (“to pluck”), cognate with twitch.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːk

Noun

tweak (plural tweaks)

1. A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.

   a tweak of the nose.

2. Trouble; distress; tweag.
3. A slight adjustment or modification.

   He is running so many tweaks it is hard to remember how it looked originally.

4. (obsolete, slang) A prostitute.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Brathwait to this entry?)

Translations

a sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch; as, a tweak of the nose

• French: coup sec (fr) m
• Italian: pizzicotto (it), tirata di naso (it)

• Russian: щипок (ru) (ščipók) m
• Turkish: çimdik (tr), kesme alma (tr), makas alma (tr)

trouble; distress; tweag

• Italian: agitazione (it) f, ansietà (it) f

• Portuguese: ansiedade (pt) f

a slight adjustment or modification

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調整 (cmn), 调整 (cmn) (tiáozhěng), 改進 (cmn), 改进 (cmn) (gǎijìn), 微調 (cmn), 微调 (cmn) (wéitiáo)

• Dutch: bijstelling
• French: retouche (fr) f, ajustement (fr) m
• German: Retusche (de) f

• Italian: ritocco (it), miglioria (it) f, modifica (it) f
• Portuguese: retoque (pt) m
• Russian: настройка (ru) (nastrójka) f, отладка (ru) (otládka) f, корректировка (ru) (korrektiróvka) f, поправка (ru) (poprávka) f
• Spanish: retoque (es)
• Swedish: justering (sv) c, finjustering (sv) c

a prostitute

• Portuguese: prostituta (pt) f
• Spanish: prostituta (es) f

• Turkish: fāhişe (tr)

Verb

tweak (third-person singular simple present tweaks, present participle tweaking, simple past and past participle tweaked)

1. (transitive) To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.

   to tweak the nose.

2. (transitive, informal) To adjust slightly; to fine-tune.

   If we tweak the colors towards blue, it will look more natural.

3. (transitive) To twit or tease.
4. (intransitive, US, slang) To abuse methamphetamines, especially crystal meth.
5. (intransitive, US, slang) To exhibit symptoms of methamphetamine abuse, such as extreme nervousness, compulsiveness, erratic motion, excitability; possibly a blend of twitch and freak.
6. (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.

Derived terms

• (drug abuser): tweaker, (US)
• (drug abuse): tweaking

Translations

to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.

• French: tordre (fr)

• Russian: щипать (ru) (ščipátʹ) impf., ущипнуть (ru) (uščipnútʹ) pf.

to slightly adjust or modify

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 調整 (cmn), 调整 (cmn) (tiáozhěng), 改進 (cmn), 改进 (cmn) (gǎijìn)

• French: retoucher (fr), ajuster (fr), personnaliser (fr)

• Russian: настраивать (ru) (nastráivatʹ) impf., настроить (ru) (nastróitʹ) pf., отлаживать (ru) (otláživatʹ) impf., отладить (ru) (otláditʹ) pf.

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Finnish: nipistää, virittää
• Turkish: cimdiklemek,(1) (v)

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967