twerk

noun

1. Synonym of twerking (“a sexually-provocative dance, involving the performer thrusting their hips back from a low squatting stance while shaking their buttocks”).

   “It was the twerk that bounced around the world in less than a day. Sound bites from reporters said, “Miley Cyrus’s JAW-DROPPING TWERK-a-thon,” the “twerk-tacular,” “twerk-and-tongue work,” in the “twerk seen ’round the world!””

2. (dated)A fitful movement similar to a twitch or jerk.

   “"Not so the Freycineti, who looked me over critically, elevated his head crest, and giving his tail an odd little twerk, proceeded to hop deliberately up the limb like a sap-sucker..."”

   “"I hardly realize it yet that you are my really truly coz," and she gave the girl's long, brown braids a familiar twerk.”

   “With a quick twerk at her shift, the girl lifted it to her rounded belly, and squatted nakedly on his lap.”

3. (US, dated, slang)A puny or insignificant person, generally male; a twerp.

   “"'...but when they load a pack onto you, what'll you do? A little twerk like you?'"”

   “"But even then the poor twerk's whiskers and little eyes looked kind of wistful as if the clothes had got him and was taking him somewhere..."”

   “You don't need those twerks who walk in off the street.”

4. An abrupt call, such as that made by the California quail.

   “Note of male on territory, a loud kurr or twerk.”

verb

1. To dance in a sexually-provocative way using hip thrusts in a low squatting stance while shaking the buttocks; to take part in twerking.

   “Gaea then stood up over me and turned so that her butt was facing me. She then had the nerve to start twerking.”

   “"Shortie really knows how to twerk it don't she?" Marcus boasted, while still recording.”

   “Let me see what ya twerkin with / Look at those hips”

   “Twerking, as it is known in the hip-hop community, is a hard-hitting, rump-shaking dance move that celebrities including Beyonce and Miley Cyrus have been known to bust out, but it has also gotten a group of San Diego high school students suspended.”

2. (dated)To twitch or jerk.

   “[…] in the language of the unsophisticated Port Melbourne suburbanite a bed was still something primarily intended for love-making – all the eyebrow-raising and moustache-twerking in Jo'burg couldn't alter that.”

   “He twerked an eyebrow at his wife.”