twinkle
part of speech
verb (twinkle, twinkles, twinkled, twinkling); noun (a twinkle)
meaning for a pupil
1) To twinkle is to shine with a light that flickers, getting brighter and dimmer quickly, as stars do. tree →
2) If someone's eyes twinkle, they look bright and happy, often because the person is amused. tree →
3) A twinkle is a small flickering light, or a happy, cheeky look in the eyes. tree →
4) «In the twinkling of an eye» means very quickly. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons stars twinkle because their light is bent by moving air in the atmosphere; planets twinkle much less, which helps you tell them apart. In music, children learn «Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star». In stories «a twinkle in his eye» shows kindness, fun or a secret joke. Phrases: «a twinkle in your eye», «twinkle like stars», «in the twinkling of an eye».
examples
- The stars twinkle in the night sky. tree →
- The fairy lights twinkled on the tree. tree →
- Grandpa's eyes twinkled when he told the joke. tree →
- Planets don't twinkle as much as stars. tree →
- We sang «Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star». tree →
- The lights of the town twinkled below the hill. tree →
- In the twinkling of an eye, the cake was gone. tree →
- The king smiled, and his eyes twinkled. tree →
note
Past: twinkled. Adjective/noun: twinkling. Trap: stars do not really switch on and off; the twinkling happens in Earth's air.
In the corpora
- The Hatter mumbles about «the twinkling of the tea»; the King says «Of course twinkling begins with a T!
- In a hole in the opposite bank something twinkles: an eye, then a whiskered brown face.
- But the Rat thinks he sees a twinkle in Toad's sorrowful eye.
- Something small and bright twinkles inside it, and a face grows round it: brown and small, with whiskers.
- Twinkling eyes mean fun and mischief, so she is probably hiding a present.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «twinkle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.