different between tweak vs crimp

English

Etymology

From Middle English twikken, from Old English twiccian (“to pluck”), from Proto-West Germanic *twekk?n (“to fasten; clamp; pinch”). Related to twitch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twi?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

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.

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

Noun

tweak (plural tweaks)

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

2. A slight adjustment or modification.

3. Trouble; distress; tweag.
4. (obsolete, slang) A prostitute.
5. (cryptography) An additional input to a block cipher, used in conjunction with the key to select the permutation computed by the cipher.

Translations

References

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

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Etymology 1

From Middle English crimpen (“to be contracted, be drawn together”), from Middle Dutch crimpen, crempen (“to crimp”), from Proto-Germanic *krimpan? (“to shrink, draw back”) (compare related Old English ?ecrympan (“to curl”)). Cognate with Dutch krimpen, German Low German krimpen, Faroese kreppa (“crisis”), and Icelandic kreppa (“to bend tightly, clench”). Compare also derivative Middle English crymplen (“to wrinkle”) and causative crempen (“to turn something back, restrain”, literally “to cause to shrink or draw back”), both ultimately derived from the same root. See also cramp.

Adjective

crimp

1. (obsolete) Easily crumbled; friable; brittle.
2. (obsolete) Weak; inconsistent; contradictory.

Noun

crimp (plural crimps)

1. A fastener or a fastening method that secures parts by bending metal around a joint and squeezing it together, often with a tool that adds indentations to capture the parts.

   The strap was held together by a simple metal crimp.

2. The natural curliness of wool fibres.
3. (usually in the plural) Hair that is shaped so it bends back and forth in many short kinks.
4. (obsolete) A card game.

Translations

Verb

crimp (third-person singular simple present crimps, present participle crimping, simple past and past participle crimped)

1. To press into small ridges or folds, to pleat, to corrugate.
   • 1983, The Pacific Reporter (page 636)

     Casino employees and Gaming Control Board agents placed the table under observation. The deck in play was exchanged for a new deck, and the used deck was found to contain many crimped cards.

2. (electricity) To fasten by bending metal so that it squeezes around the parts to be fastened.

   He crimped the wire in place.

3. To pinch and hold; to seize.
4. To style hair into a crimp, to form hair into tight curls, to make it kinky.
5. To bend or mold leather into shape.
6. To gash the flesh, e.g. of a raw fish, to make it crisper when cooked.

Derived terms

• crimper
• crimping tool

Translations

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Likely from etymology 1, above, but the historical development is not clear. Attested since the seventeenth century.

Noun

crimp (plural crimps)

1. An agent who procures seamen, soldier, etc., especially by decoying, entrapping, impressing, or seducing them.
2. (specifically, law) One who infringes sub-section 1 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, applied to a person other than the owner, master, etc., who engages seamen without a license from the Board of Trade.
3. (obsolete) A keeper of a low lodging house where sailors and emigrants are entrapped and fleeced.

Verb

crimp (third-person singular simple present crimps, present participle crimping, simple past and past participle crimped)

1. (transitive) To impress (seamen or soldiers); to entrap, to decoy.

References

• crimp in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “crimp”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• crimp at OneLook Dictionary Search