Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Twice, adv. p. 1428Two times; once and again. He twice essayed to cast his son in gold. Dryden. 2. Doubly; in twofold quantity; as, twice the sum; he is twice as fortunate as his neighbor. Twice is used in the…Twĭch, n. p. 1428See DOG-GRASS.Twĭd'dle, n. p. 1428A slight twist with the fingers. 2. A pimple. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.Twĭd'dle, v. t. p. 1428To touch lightly, or play with; to tweedle; to twirl with the fingers; as, to twiddle a watch-key. [Written also twidle.] Thackeray.Twĭd'dle, v. i. p. 1428To play with any thing; hence, to be busy about trifles. Halliwell.Twī'făl-lōw, v. t. p. 1428To plow a second time;—said of land that is fallowed.Twĭ'fold, a. p. 1428Twofold; twice as many. [Colloq. and low.] [Obs.] Spenser.Twĭg, n. p. 1428A 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. Raleigh.Twĭg, v. t. p. 1428To beat with twigs.Twĭg, v. t. p. 1428To twitch; to pull; to tweak. [Obs.] 2. To understand the meaning of; as, do you twig me? [Colloq. and low.] Marryatt. 3. To observe slyly. “Now twig him; now mind him.” Foote. His exceedingly homely…Twĭg'ġen, a. p. 1429Made of twigs; wicker. [Obs.]Twig'ger, n. p. 1429A fornicator. [Eng.] Halliwell.Twig'gy, a. p. 1429Full of twigs; abounding with shoots.Twig'less, a. p. 1429Having no twigs.Twig'-rush, n. p. 1429(Bot.) A rush-like plant of the genus Cladium, having hard, and sometimes prickly-edged, leaves or stalks.Twig'sōme, a. p. 1429Full of, or abounding in, twigs. [Rare.] “Twigsome trees.” Dickens.Twi'/light (-lit), n. p. 1429The faint light perceived before the rising and after the setting of the sun, or when he is less than 18° below the horizon, occasioned by the illumination of the earth's atmosphere by the direct…Twī'light, a. p. 1429Imperfectly illuminated; shaded; obscure. O'er the twilight groves and dusky caves. Pope. 2. Seen or done by twilight.Twĭll, v. t. p. 1429To weave, as cloth, so as to produce the appearance of diagonal lines or ribs, on the surface of; to quill.Twĭll, n. p. 1429An appearance of diagonal lines or ribs produced in textile fabrics by causing the weft threads to pass over one and under two, or over one and under three or more, warp-threads, instead of over one…Twĭl'ly or Twĭl'ly-dĕv'il, n. p. 1429A machine for cleansing or loosening wool by the action of a revolving cylinder covered with long iron spikes or teeth; a willy or willying-machine. See WILLY. Tomlinson.Twĭlt, n. p. 1429A quilt. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.Twin, n. p. 1429One of two produced at a birth, especially by an animal that ordinarily brings forth but one at a birth;—used chiefly in the plural, and applied to the young of beasts, as well as of human beings. 2.…Twin, a. p. 1429Being one of two born at a birth; as, a twin brother or sister. 2. Being one of a pair much resembling one another; standing in the relation of a twin to something else; — often followed by to. 3.…Twin, v. i. p. 1429To bring forth two at a birth. Tusser. 2. To be born at the same birth. Shak. 3. To be paired; to be suited. [Rare.] Still we moved Together, twinned, as horse's ear and eye. Tennyson.Twin, v. t. & i. p. 1429To separate into two parts; to divide. [Obs.] Chaucer.Twin'-born, a. p. 1429Born at the same birth.Twine, v. t. p. 1429To twist together; to form by twisting or winding of threads; to wind, as one thread or cord around another, or as any flexible substance around another body; as, fine twined linen. 2. To wind about…Twine, v. i. p. 1429To unite closely, or by complication of parts. Friends now fast sworn, who twine in love. Shak. 2. To wind; to bend; to make turns; to meander. “As rivers, though they bend and twine.” Swift. 3. To…Twine, n. p. 1429A twist; a convolution. “Typhon huge, ending in snaky twine.” Milton. 2. The act of twining or winding round. 3. A strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together…Twine'-reel'er, n. p. 1429A kind of machine for twisting twine; a kind of mule, or spinning-machine. Simmonds.Twin'-flow'er, n. p. 1429(Bot.) A slender, creeping, and trailing little evergreen plant, having delicate and fragrant nodding flowers; Linnæa borealis.Twĭnġe, v. t. p. 1429To pull with a twitch; to pinch; to tweak. When a man is past his sense, There's no way to reduce him thence, But twingeing him by the ears or nose, Or laying on of heavy blows. Hudibras. 2. To…Twĭnġe, v. i. p. 1429To have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen, darting, or shooting pain; as, the side twinges.Twĭnġe, n. p. 1429A pinch; a tweak; a twitch. “A master that gives you so many blows and twinges by the ear.” L’Estrange. 2. A sudden, sharp pain; a darting, local pain of momentary continuance; as, a twinge in the…Twĭnk, n. p. 1429A wink; a twinkle and twinkling. [Obs.]Twĭnk'le, v. i. p. 1429To open and shut the eye rapidly; to blink; to wink. The owl fell a moping and twinkling. L'Estrange. 2. To sparkle; to flash at intervals; to shine with an intermitted or a broken, quivering light…Twink'le, n. p. 1429A closing or opening, or a quick motion of the eye; a wink. Suddenly, with twinkle of her eye, The damsel broke his misintended dart. Spencer. 2. The time of a wink; a twinkling.Twĭnk'ler, n. p. 1429One who, or that which, twinkles, or winks; a winker.Twink'ling, n. p. 1429The act of one who, or that which, twinkles; a quick movement of the eye; a wink. 2. A shining with intermitted light; a scintillation; a sparkling; as, the twinkling of the stars. 3. The time of a…Twin'-leaf, n. p. 1429(Bot.) A perennial, glabrous herb of the genus Jeffersonia (J. diphylla), with matted, fibrous roots, and root-leaves with long petioles and parted into two half-ovate leaflets. Gray.Twin'-like, a. p. 1429Closely resembling; being a counterpart.Twĭn'-līke-ness, n. p. 1429Near resemblance.Twĭn'ling, n. p. 1429A twin lamb. Tusser.Twĭn'ner, n. p. 1429One who twins; a breeder of twins. Tusser.Twĭn'ter, n. p. 1429A beast two winters old. [Prov. Eng.] Grose.Twīre, v. i. p. 1429To sing, or murmur with a gentle sound; to twitter. Chaucer. 2. To peep out; to glance obliquely; to leer affectedly. “Which maids will twire at ’tween their fingers.” B. Jonson. I saw the wench that…Twire, n. p. 1429A twisted filament; a thread. Locke.Twīre'-pipe, n. p. 1429A vagabond musician. [Obs.] You are an ass, a twire-pipe. Beau. & Fl. I have said . . . that you looked like Twire-pipe, the taborer. Chapman.Twirl, v. t. p. 1429To move or turn round with rapidity; to whirl round; to move and turn rapidly with the fingers. See ruddy maids, Some taught with dexterous hand to twirl the wheel. Dodsley. No more beneath soft…Twĭrl, v. i. p. 1429To revolve with velocity; to be whirled round rapidly.Twĭrl, n. p. 1429A rapid, circular motion; a whirling; quick rotation. 2. Twist; convolution. [Rare.] Woodward.Twĭst, v. t. p. 1429To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve. Twist it into a serpentine form. Pope. 2. Hence, to turn from the true form or meaning; to pervert; as, to twist a passage cited…Twĭst, v. i. p. 1429To be contorted or united by winding round each other; to be or become twisted; as, some strands will twist more easily than others.Twĭst, n. p. 1429A contortion; a flexure; a convolution; a bending. Not the least turn or twist in the fibers of any one animal which does not render them more proper for that particular animal's way of life than any…Twist'er, n. p. 1429One who twists; the person whose occupation is to twist or join the threads of one to those of another, in weaving. 2. The instrument used in twisting, or making twists. The twain that, in twining…Twist'ie-al, a. p. 1429Having a twist; tortuous; hence, perverse; unfair; dishonest. [Colloq. and vulgar, U. S.] Bartlett.Twit, v. t. p. 1429To vex by bringing to notice or reminding of a fault, defect, misfortune, or the like; to fling at; to revile; to reproach; to upbraid; to taunt; as, he twitted his friend of falsehood. With this…Twitch, v. t. p. 1429To 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. Thrice they…Twĭtch, n. p. 1429A pull with a jerk; a short, sudden, quick pull; as, a twitch by the sleeve. 2. A short, spastic contraction of the fibers or muscles; as, convulsive twitches; a twitch in the side.