frobnicate

/frobnikayt/ , vt. [Poss. derived from frobnitz , and usually abbreviated to
frob , but frobnicate is recognized as the official full form.:] To
manipulate or adjust, to tweak. One frequently frobs bits or other 2-state
devices. Thus: Please frob the light switch (that is, flip it), but also
Stop frobbing that clasp; you'll break it. One also sees the construction to
frob a frob. See tweak and twiddle. Usage: frob, twiddle, and tweak
sometimes connote points along a continuum. Frob connotes aimless
manipulation; twiddle connotes gross manipulation, often a coarse search for
a proper setting; tweak connotes fine-tuning. If someone is turning a knob
on an oscilloscope, then if he's carefully adjusting it, he is probably
tweaking it; if he is just turning it but looking at the screen, he is
probably twiddling it; but if he's just doing it because turning a knob is
fun, he's frobbing it. The variant frobnosticate has been recently reported.

