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moustache-twirling

noun

Etymology

The act being a visual trope in film parodies of villains from 19th century melodrama.

Definitions

  1. Behavior associated with villainy.

    • Now, Walter Huston is not of the eyebrow-waving school of cinema actors. He does not go in for moustache-twirling nor nostril-quivering. His is a strong, forceful character. He is not a magazine-cover lad.
    • And during the final story of the season, The Ultimate Foe, talk about hand-wringing, moustache-twirling, melodramatic villain laughs!
    • When it comes to accounting, there are four major suitors for the hand of small business. All promise paradise in day-to-day bookkeeping and vow to keep you on the right side ol that moustache-twirling Revenue Canada.

  2. An instance of twirling one's moustache.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for moustache-twirling. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA