twitch3 (twich)

[A dial. var. of quitch2.] The quitch or quitch-gra , Agropyrum repens. The name is also applied to the bent-gra , Agrostis vulgar is, and to a few other gra es, as the sheep's-fescue, Festuca ovina, called black twitch. twitchell (twich'el), n. [ All persons pa ing by this Twitchel are requested to go up or down directly, without loitering, causing obstrucQuoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 275. tion, etc. IMG:content-1163.png:[blocks in formation] Fibrillary twitching, irregular spasmodic contraction of the fibrils of a muscle independent of each other. twitelt, v. t. An obsolete form of twit . twite2t, v. A variant of thwite . They ne rekke in what wyse, where ne when, Nor how vngoodly they on theyre mete twyte. twite3 (twit), n. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 7. [Said to be imitative of the cry of the bird.] A kind of linnet, the mountain-linnet, Linaria montium or L. flavirostris , a European bird of the family Fringillidæ , nearly related to the redpoll, siskin, and goldfinch. twite-finch (twit'finch), n. The twite. twit-lark (twit'lärk), n. A titlark or pipit. [Prov. Eng.] twitter1 (twit'er), v. [ kwetteren = OHG. zwizirōn, MHG. zwitzern, G. zwitschern = Sw. quittra = Dan. kvidre , twitter; prob. orig. imitative.] I. in trans. 1. To utter a succe ion of small, tremulous MS. Cantab., Ff. ii. 38, f. 117. ( Hall i well.) sounds, as a bird; sing in bird-notes; chirp. IMG:content-1164.png:[blocks in formation] The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed. Gray, Elegy. They twitch the offender about the waste with a to well 2. To titter; giggle. [Obsolete or provincial.] span. untill they have drawn him within the compa e of a Sandys, Travailes, p. 49. II. in trans. 1. To be suddenly jerked; move or contract quickly or spasmodically, as a mus cle. They [movements] vary, in sensitive frogs and with a proper amount of irritation, so little as almost to resemble in their machine-like regularity the performances of a jumping-jack, whose legs must twitch whenever you pull the string. W. James , Prin. of Psychol., I. 15. 2. To carp; sneer; make flings. Compare jerk1 , v. 1., 2. Try to barter one with the other amicably, and not to twitch and carp. Landor , Imag. Conv., Diogenes and Plato. twitch1 (twich), n. [Formerly also twich ; twick , twig2 , tweak1 .] 1. A short, sharp pull or tug; a jerk or snatch. I felt him take hold of my flesh, and give me such a deadly twitch back that I thought he had pulled part of Bunyan , Pilgrim's Progre , i. me after himself. 2. A short, spastic contraction of the fibers of muscles; a stitch; a twinge: as, a twitch in the side; convulsive twitches; especially, such a movement when causing pain: sometimes applied to moral pangs. IMG:content-1165.png:[blocks in formation] 2. A fit of laughter; a titter. Hall i well . [Prov. Eng.]-3. A tremble; a flutter; a general ex Chapman , Iliad, xxiii. 620. citement; a pother: as, to be in (or of) a twit So crackt their backe bones wrincht With horrid twitches. two ter, or to be in or on the twitters. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.] I am all of a twitter to see my old John Harrow by again. Colman and Garrick , Clandestine Marriage, i. 1. This hang in' on mont' arter mont' Fer one sharp purpose 'mongst the twitter , I tell you, it doos kind o' stunt The peth and sperit of a critter. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., vii.