TWAIT, noun A fish.

1. In old writers, wood grubbed up and converted into arable land. [Local.]

TWANG, verb intransitive To sound with a quick sharp noise; to make the sound of a string which is stretched and suddenly pulled; as the twanging bows.

TWANG, verb transitive To make to sound, as by pulling a tense string and letting it go suddenly.

Sound the tough horn, and twang the quivering string.

TWANG, noun A sharp quick sound; as the twang of a bowstring; a twang of the nose.

1. An affected modulation of the voice; a kind of nasal sound.

He has a twang in his discourse.

TWANG'ING, participle present tense Making a sharp sound.

1. adjective Contemptibly noisy.

TWAN'GLE, verb intransitive To twang.

TWANK, a corruption of twang.

'TWAS, a contraction of it was.

TWAT'TLE, verb intransitive To prate; to talk much and idly; to gabble; to chatter; as a twattling gossip.

TWAT'TLE, verb transitive To pet; to make much of. [Local.]

TWAT'TLING, participle present tense or adjective Prating; gabbling; chattering.

TWAT'TLING, noun The act of prating; idle talk.

TWAY, for twain, two. [Not in use.]

TWEAG

TWEAK, v.t. It is radically the same word as twitch, and of the same signification.] To twitch; to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk; as, to tweag or tweak the nose.

TWEE'DLE, verb transitive To handle lightly; used of awkward fiddling.

TWEEL, verb transitive To weave with multiplied leases in the harness, by increasing the number of threads in each split of the reed, and the number of treddles, etc.

TWEE'ZERS, noun [This seems to be formed on the root of vise, an instrument for pinching.] Nippers; small pinchers used to pluck out hairs.

TWELFTH, adjective The second after the tenth; the ordinal of twelve.

TWELVE, adjective twelv. The sum of two and ten; twice six; a dozen. twelve men compose a petty jury.

TWELVEMONTH, noun twelv'month. [twelve and month.] A year, which consists of twelve calendar months.

I shall laugh at this a twelvemonth hence.

TWELVEPENCE, noun twelv'pence. [twelve and pence.] A shilling.

TWELVEPENNY, adjective twelv'penny. Sold for a shilling; worth a shilling; as a twelve-penny gallery.

TWELVESCORE, adjective twelv'score. [twelve and score.] Twelve times twenty; two hundred and forty.

TWEN'TIETH, adjective The ordinal of twenty; as the twentieth year.

TWEN'TY, adjective [Latin decem.]

1. Twice ten; as twenty men; twenty years.

2. Proverbially, an indefinite number.

Maximilian, upon twenty respects, could not have been the man.

TWI'BIL, noun [two and bil.] A kind of mattock, and a halbert.

TWICE, adverb [from two.] Two times.

He twice essay'd to cast his son in gold.

1. Doubly; as twice the sum. He is twice as fortunate as his neighbor.

2. twice is used in composition; as in twice-told, twice-born, twice-planted, twice-conquered.

TWIDLE, for tweedle. [See Tweedle.]

TWI'FALLOW, verb transitive [twi, two, and fallow.] To plow a second time land that is fallowed.

TWI'FALLOWED, participle passive Plowed twice, as summer fallow.

TWI'FALLOWING, participle present tense Plowing a second time.

TWI'FALLOWING, noun The operation of plowing a second time, as fallow land, in preparing it for seed.

TWI'FOLD, adjective Twofold.

TWIG, noun [Latin vigeo, with a prefix.] A small shoot or branch of a tree or other plant, of no definite length or size.

The Britons had boats made of willow twigs, covered on the outside with hides.

TWIG'GEN, adjective Made of twigs; wicker.

TWIG'GY, adjective Full of twigs; abounding with shoots.

TWI'LIGHT, noun

1. The faint light which is reflected upon the earth after sunset and before sunrise; crepuscular light. In latitudes remote from the equator, the twilight is of much longer duration than at and near the equator.

2. Dubious or uncertain view; as the twilight or probability.

TWI'LIGHT, adjective Obscure; imperfectly illuminated; shaded.

O'er the twilight groves and dusky caves.

1. Seen or done by twilight

TWILL, verb transitive To weave in ribs or ridges; to quill. [See Quill.]

TWILT, noun A quilt. [Local.]

TWIN, noun

1. One of two young produced at a birth by an animal that ordinarily brings but one; used mostly in the plural, twins; applied to the young of beasts, as well as to human beings.

2. A sign of the zodiac; Gemini.

3. One very much resembling another.

TWIN, adjective Noting one of two born at a birth; as a twin brother or sister.

1. Very much resembling.

2. In botany, swelling out into two protuberances, as an anther or germ.

TWIN, verb intransitive To be born at the same birth.

1. To bring two at once.

2. To be paired; to be suited. [This verb is little used.]

TWIN, verb transitive To separate into two parts.

TWIN'-BORN, adjective [twin and born.] Born at the same birth.

TWINE, verb transitive

1. To twist; to wind, as one thread or cord around another, or as any flexible substance around another, or as any flexible substance around another body; as fine twined linen. Exodus 39:2.

2. To unite closely; to cling to; to embrace.

3. To gird; to wrap closely about.

Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine

TWINE, verb intransitive To unite closely, or by interposition of parts.

Friends now fast sworn, who twine in love--

1. To wind; to bend; to make turns.

As rivers, though they bend and twine--

2. To turn round; as, her spindles twine

TWINE, noun A strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together; used for binding small parcels, and for sewing sails to their bolt-ropes, etc. twine of a stronger kind is used for nets.

1. A twist; a convolution; as Typhon's snaky twine

2. Embrace; act of winding round.

TWI'NED, participle passive Twisted; wound round.

TWINGE, verb transitive twinj.

1. To affect with a sharp sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.

The gnat twinged the lion till he made him tear himself, and so he mastered him.

2. To pinch; to tweak; to pull with a jerk; as, to twinge one by the ears and nose.

TWINGE, verb transitive twinj. to have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen spasmodic or shooting pain; as, the side twinges. [This is the sense in which this word is generally used within the limits of my acquaintance.

TWINGE, noun twinj. A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as a twinge in the arm or side.

1. A sharp rebuke of conscience.

2. A pinch; a tweak; as a twinge of the ear.

TWING'ING, participle present tense Suffering a sharp local pain of short continuance; pinching with a sudden pull.

TWING'ING, noun The act of pinching with a sudden twitch; a sudden, sharp, local pain.

TWI'NING, participle present tense Twisting; winding round; uniting closely to; embracing.

1. In botany, ascending spirally around a branch, stem or prop.

TWINK. [See Twinkle.]

TWIN'KLE, verb intransitive

1. To sparkle; to flash at intervals; to shine with a tremulous intermitted light, or with a broken quivering light. The fixed stars twinkle; the planets do not.

These stars do not twinkle when viewed through telescopes that have large apertures.

2. To open and shut the eye by turns; as the twinkling owl.

3. To play irregularly; as, her eyes will twinkle

TWIN'KLE

TWIN'KLING, noun A sparkling; a shining with intermitted light; as the twinkling of the stars.

1. A motion of the eye.

2. A moment; an instant; the time of a wink.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump--the dead shall be raised incorruptible. 1 Corinthians 15:52.

TWIN'KLING, participle present tense Sparkling.

TWIN'LING, noun [from twin.] A twin lamb.

TWIN'NED, adjective [from twin.] Produced at one birth, like twins; united.

TWIN'NER, noun [from twin.] A breeder of twins.

TWIN'TER, noun [two and winter.] A beast two winters old. [Local.]

TWIRE, verb intransitive To take short flights; to flutter; to quiver; to twitter. [Not in use.]

TWIRL, verb transitive twurl. To move or turn round with rapidity; to whirl round.

See ruddy maids,

Some taught with dextrous hand to twirl the wheel--

TWIRL, verb intransitive To revolve with velocity; to be whirled round.

TWIRL, noun A rapid circular motion; quick rotation.

1. Twist; convolution.

TWIRL'ED, participle passive Whirled round.

TWIRL'ING, participle present tense Turning with velocity; whirling.

TWIST, verb transitive

1. To unite by winding one thread, strand or other flexible substance round another; to form by convolution, or winding separate things round each other; as to twist yarn or thread. So we say, to double and twist

2. To form into a thread from many fine filaments; as, to twist wool or cotton.

3. To contort; to writhe; as, to twist a thing into a serpentine form.

4. To wreathe; to wind; to encircle.

--Pillars of smoke twisted about with wreaths of flame.

5. To form; to weave; as, to twist a story.

6. To unite by intertexture of parts; as, to twist bays with ivy.

7. To unite; to enter by winding; to insinuate; as, avarice twists itself into all human concerns.

8. To pervert; as, to twist a passage in an author.

9. To turn from a straight line.

TWIST, verb intransitive To be contorted or united by winding round each other. Some strands will twist more easily than others.

TWIST, noun A cord, thread or any thing flexible, formed by winding strands or separate things round each other.

1. A cord; a string; a single cord.

2. A contortion; a writhe.

3. A little roll of tobacco.

4. Manner of twisting.

5. A twig. [Not in use.]

TWIST'ED, participle passive Formed by winding threads or strands round each other.

TWIST'ER, noun One that twists.

1. The instrument of twisting.

TWIST'ING, participle present tense Winding different strands or threads round each other; forming into a thread by twisting

TWIT, verb transitive [Latin ad, to.] To reproach; to upbraid; as for some previous act. He twitted his friend of falsehood.

With this these scoffers twitted the christians.

Aesop minds men of their errors, without twitting them for what is amiss.

TWITCH, verb transitive To pull with a sudden jerk; to pluck with a short, quick motion; to snatch; as, to twitch one by the sleeve; to twitch a thing out of another's hand; to twitch off clusters of grapes.

TWITCH, noun A pull with a jerk; a short, sudden, quick pull; as a twitch by the sleeve.

1. A short spasmodic contraction of the fibers or muscles; as a twitch in the side; convulsive twitches.

TWITCH'ED, participle passive Pulled with a jerk.

TWITCH'ER, noun One that twitches.

TWITCH'-GRASS, noun Couch grass; a species of grass which it is difficult to exterminate. But qu. is not this word a corruption of quitch-grass, or quick-grass?

TWITCH'ING, participle present tense Pulling with a jerk; suffering short spasmodic contractions.

TWIT'TED, participle passive Upbraided.

TWIT'TER, verb transitive

1. To make a succession of small, tremulous, intermitted noises; as, the swallow twitters.

2. To make the sound of a half suppressed laugh.

TWIT'TER, noun [from twit.] One who twits or reproaches.

TWIT'TER, noun A small intermitted noise, as in half suppressed laughter; or the sound of a swallow.

TWIT'TERING, participle present tense Uttering a succession of small interrupted sounds, as in a half suppressed laugh, or as a swallow.

TWIT'TING, participle present tense Upbraiding; reproaching.

TWIT'TINGLY, adverb With upbraiding.

'TWIXT, a contraction of betwixt, used in poetry.

TWO, adjective [Latin duo.]

1. One and one. two similar horses used together, are called a span, or a pair.

2. two is used in composition; as in two-legged. Man is a two-legged animal.

TWOEDGED, adjective Having two edges, or edges on both sides; as a two-edged sword.

TWOFOLD, adjective [two and fold.] Two of the same kind, or two different things existing together; as twofold nature; a twofold sense; a twofold argument.

1. Double; as twofold strength or desire.

2. In botany, two and two together, growing form the same place; as twofold leaves.

TWOFOLD, adverb Doubly; in a double degree. Matthew 23:15.