gyration vs twirl

gyration

noun
  • The act of turning or whirling, especially around a fixed axis or centre; a circular or spiral motion; rotation. 

  • The arrangement of convolutions of gyri in the cerebral cortex of the brain. 

  • One of the whorls of a spiral univalve shell. 

  • A rotation around an axis which is not the centre of rotational symmetry; an eccentric or off-centre rotation. 

twirl

noun
  • Any rotating movement; a spin. 

  • A little twist of some substance; a swirl. 

  • A movement where a person spins round elegantly; a pirouette. 

  • A prison guard. 

verb
  • To twist round. 

  • To pitch. 

  • To rotate rapidly. 

  • To perform a twirl. 

How often have the words gyration and twirl occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )