tweak
[ tweek ]
verb (used with object)
- to pinch and pull with a jerk and twist:
She playfully tweaked his ear.
I tweaked my bowtie again, but it stayed stubbornly crooked.
- to pull or pinch the nose of, especially gently:
He leaned over the stroller and tweaked the baby affectionately.
- to make a minor adjustment to:
Bad hardware can't be fixed by tweaking the software.
- to annoy, tease, or make fun of:
How much of her “dumb blonde” image was actually a brilliant performer tweaking the stuffed shirts?
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It should have worked. Evan knew it should have worked. He had checked all the simulations. Went over every part with a fine-tooth comb. Everything was perfect. And yet his creation simply refused to do anything. It turned on just fine. The computer said everything was going to work. But the damn machine refused to do anything other than make a whirring noise, followed by a series of worrying clanks.
“Hey man, what’s up?”
Evan groaned. He did not need the distraction from his idiot roommate. He had more important things to think about.
“Go away, Steve. I’m trying to change the world here.” Evan said.
“Really? Sweet! Can I watch?”
“If I saw no, will you go away?”
“Nope. Nothing good on any streaming site right now. Figured you’d have something cool going on.”
Evan took a deep breath. “Fine. Just don’t touch anything. This is all very sensitive equipment.”
“No problem. You won’t even know I’m here.”
Evan doubted that. But as long as Steve didn’t do anything, he was harmless. Evan busying himself with trying to figure out what was wrong with his creation. He poured over the diagrams, trying to find the flaw. But he simply could not find anything wrong.
“Something wrong, man?” Steve asked.
“Nothing you can help with.”
Evan tried altering a few minor parameters, just to see if anything changed. Nothing did. Still those same sounds.
“Wow. That sounds bad. He, you know I’m pretty good with cars and stuff. Maybe I can take a look at it?”
“Steve, the fact that you equate this masterpiece of engineering and craftsmanship with a common car tells me how unqualified you are to examine a single screw. In other words, don’t you dare touch anything.”
“Ah come on, I’m sure it’s not that bad.” Steve had already stood and made his way into the main mechanism of the machine.
Evan quickly shut it all down, just in case the big idiot did something to damage it. He heard some light clinks and thunks. A few metallic taps and the rustling of wires. Five minutes later, Steve came out.
“Okay, give it a try now.”
“What did you do? You had better not have broken anything.”
“Chill, dude, chill. Just turn it on and see what happens.”
Evan grumbled, but did so. He turned it on, expecting the entire thing to collapse. The machine whirred to life. It became a glorious symphony of sound, motion and function. And it was perfect. Evan stared, stunned. Steve let out a triumphant whoop.
“How…what? What did you do?” Evan asked.
“I just looked around and tweaked a few things.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I got a feeling that some things weren’t where they should’ve been, so I tweaked and poked ‘em until they felt right.”
It took several seconds for Evan to process what he had just been told. “They…felt wrong. And you did random changes until they…felt right.”
“Yup.”
“I…I don’t know whether to hug you or hit you.”
Steve looked quite proud of himself. “You’re welcome, man. Always happy to help. So, uh, what’s this thing do anyway?”
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There's more definitions for this word, but I'm only posting a few. Otherwise there'd be too many and it'd get awkward. Besides, we all know what "tweak" means, right?
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