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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TWEEDLE

v.t.To handle lightly; used of awkward fiddling.

 

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

TWEEDLE

Twee "dle, v. t. Etym: [Cf. Twiddle. ] [Written also twidle. ]

 

1. To handle lightly; -- said with reference to awkward fiddling; hence, to influence as if by fiddling; to coax; to allure. A fiddler brought in with him a body of lusty young fellows, whom he had tweedled into the service. Addison.

 

2. To twist. [Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell.

 

TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE

TWEEDLEDUM AND TWEEDLEDEE Twee "dle *dum ` and Twee "dle *dee `.

 

Defn: Two things practically alike; -- a phrase coined by John Byrom (1692 -1793 ) in his satire "On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini."

 

New American Oxford Dictionary

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Twee dle dum and Twee dle dee |ˌtwēdlˈdəm and ˌtwēdlˈdē twiːdlˈdʌməntwiːdlˈdiː | ▶noun a pair of people or things that are virtually indistinguishable. ORIGIN originally names applied to the composers Bononcini (1670 –1747 ) and Handel, in a 1725 satire by John Byrom (1692 –1763 ); they were later used for two identical characters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass .

 

Oxford Dictionary

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Tweedle |dum and Tweedle |dee |twiːd (ə )lˈdʌm, twiːd (ə )lˈdiː | ▶noun a pair of people or things that are virtually indistinguishable. ORIGIN originally names applied to the composers Bononcini (1670 –1747 ) and Handel, in a 1725 satire by John Byrom (1692 –1763 ); they were later used for two identical characters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass .