knob-twiddler

See also: knob twiddler

English

Alternative forms

• knob twiddler

Noun

knob-twiddler (plural knob-twiddlers)

1. (informal) A technician whose job entails adjusting electronic devices via knobs.
   • 1949, Bernard Newman, Shoot!, page 207:

     Mr. Telson was a confirmed knob-twiddler. Often he would work along the whole range of his radio, to 'see what he could get.'

   • 1964 July 16, New Scientist, page 148:

     If you're a dedicated knob twiddler what follows can hold no pleasure for you. If jumping doggedly up and down in constant conflict with the electronics of a TV set is your idea of an evening's bliss, then don't read on.

   • 2005, David Kettle, Elephant Gnosis, →ISBN, page 173:

     But long live the spirit of the amateur cameraman, the solo recording engineer, and the lonesome knob twiddler.

   • 2012, Tim Moore, You Are Awful (But I Like You): Travels Through Unloved Britain, →ISBN, page 157:

     Recorded in 1995, 'Spaceman' had been hanging around unnoticed for a year when an ad agency knob-twiddler chanced upon it, or rather one very, very small part of it.