wiggle

American  

[wig-uhl] / ˈwɪg əl /

verb (used without object)

wiggled, wiggling

1. to move or go with short, quick, irregular movements from side to side.

   The puppies wiggled with delight.

---

verb (used with object)

wiggled, wiggling

1. to cause to wiggle; move quickly and irregularly from side to side.

noun

1. a wiggling movement or course.

2. a wiggly line.

3. a dish of creamed fish or shellfish and peas.

idioms

1. get a wiggle on, to hurry up; get a move on.

   If you don't get a wiggle on, we'll miss the first act.

wiggle British  

/ ˈwɪɡəl /

verb

1. to move or cause to move with jerky movements, esp from side to side

---

noun

1. the act or an instance of wiggling

2. slang to hurry up

Other Word Forms

• outwiggle verb (used with object)
• wiggler noun
• wiggly adjective

Etymology

Origin of wiggle

1175–1225; Middle English wiglen; akin to Old English wegan to move, wēg motion, wicga insect; compare Norwegian vigla to totter, frequentative of vigga to rock oneself, Dutch, Low German wiggelen

Example Sentences

Sometimes for a whole day they talked in sea lion grunts or frigate bird squawks or plankton wiggles.

From Literature

This may be an indication that dealers are leaving wiggle room to tack on undisclosed add-on charges.

From MarketWatch

Others wiggled like garden snakes between blades of grass.

From Literature

In a normal situation the jet stream would flow west to east across the Atlantic with weather systems being created by minor wiggles along it.

From BBC

But the most likely answer is that particles of pollution are "wiggling their way through the lining of the blood vessels and lodging in various organs".

From BBC