twirly
UK/ˈtwɜː.liː/
twirly adjective: coiled or curly.
Adjective
Noun
twirly (plural twirlies)
- An old age pensioner or other elderly person, especially one using public transport.
- Some passengers do try to use passes fraudulently and the time restriction on OAP passes can sometimes lead to arguments (the so-called "twirlies" — "Am I too early?") but seldom to assaults.1986, Working Group on Violence to Road Passenger Transport Staff, Assaults on bus staff and measures to prevent such assaults, HMSO, page 51
- These are a great hit with "Twirlies" (senior citizens, infamous for using their bus passes "too-early" before rush hour fades).1986, Rick Steves, Great Britain in 22 days: a step-by-step guide and travel itinerary, →ISBN, page 52
- Synonyms:
- coffin dodger, geriatric, senior citizen
Synonyms of twirly
Forms of twirly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | twirlier |
| superlative | twirliest |
| Noun | |
| plural | twirlies |
Origin of twirly
From twirl + -y.
Blend of too + early from the question "Am I too early [to use my pass]?" frequently asked of bus drivers, etc. by holders of OAP/senior citizen or similar travel passes that are not valid before a certain time (usually 9:30am).
Questions about twirly
- What does twirly mean?
- Twirly means coiled or curly.
- What part of speech is twirly?
- Twirly can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce twirly?
- Twirly is pronounced /ˈtwɜː.liː/ (UK).
Words near twirly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: twirly (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “twirly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twirly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.