Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Tweedledum and Tweedledee
noun Etymology: English tweedle to chirp + dum (imitative of a low musical note) & dee (imitative of a high musical note) Date: 1725 two individuals or groups that are practically indistinguishable

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

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  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — are fictional characters in Lewis Carroll s Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There and in a nursery rhyme by an anonymous author. Their names may have originally come from one of the most celebrated and most frequently quoted (and… …   Wikipedia

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — Twee dle*dum and Twee dle*dee Two things practically alike; a phrase coined by John Byrom (1692 1793) in his satire On the Feuds between Handel and Bononcini. [Webster 1913 Suppl.] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • tweedledum and tweedledee — [twēd΄ l dum′ ən twēd΄ l dē′] n. [< TWEEDLE + dum & dee, echoic of musical notes: first used of two 18th c. rival composers] 1. two persons or things so much alike as to be almost indistinguishable 2. [T and T ] two almost identical brothers… …   English World dictionary

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — noun A pair of people who spend a lot of time together, and look and act similarly. Some officers were starting to call Edendales two detective chief inspectors Tweedledum and Tweedledee, because they were rarely seen except when they were… …   Wiktionary

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — Twee|dle|dum and Twee|dle|dee two characters in the book ↑Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. They are fat little men, who are both dressed in school uniform and look exactly like each other. Their names are often used to describe two… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — Synonyms and related words: Castor and Pollux, Gemini, Siamese twins, Twin Stars, dead heat, deadlock, draw, even break, exact mates, fair shake, fraternal twins, identical twins, knotted score, neck and neck race, pair of twins, photo finish,… …   Moby Thesaurus

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — Twee·dle·dum and Twee·dle·dee || ‚twiːdl dÊŒmÉ™n‚twiːdl diː two persons or things that are nearly identical and are hard to tell apart; characters in Lewis Carroll s works Alice s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — Twee|dle|dum and Twee|dle|dee [ ,twidl,dʌm ən ,twidl di ] two people who are very much like each other in their behavior and looks …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — Twee•dle•dum and Twee•dle•dee [[t]ˌtwid lˈdʌm ən ˌtwid lˈdi[/t]] n. pl. two persons or things nominally different but practically the same • Etymology: 1715–25; humorous coinage, appar. first applied as nicknames to Italian composer Giovanni… …   From formal English to slang

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — /tweed l dum euhn tweed l dee / two persons or things nominally different but practically the same; a nearly identical pair. [1715 25; humorous coinage, appar. first applied as nicknames to Giovanni Bononcini and Handel, with reference to their… …   Universalium

  • Tweedledum and Tweedledee — noun a pair of people or things that are virtually indistinguishable. Origin orig. names applied to the composers Bononcini and Handel, in a 1725 satire by John Byrom; later used for two identical characters in Lewis Carroll s Through the Looking …   English new terms dictionary

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