twitch, twicchen, twikkyn, twychyn

t. & i. [A weakened form of tweak (q. v.).] A. Transitive: 1. To pull with a sudden or sharp jerk; to pluck with a short, sharp motion; to snatch. "At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blue; To-morrow to fresh woods, and pastures new." IMG:content-1618.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1619.png:[blocks in formation] "Cut whole giants into fritters, To put them into amorous twitters." IMG:content-1620.png:[blocks in formation] 1. The act of one who or of that which twitters; a sharp, intermitted, chirping noise; a chirp. "To learn the twittering of a meaner bird." Cowper: Conversation, 448. *2. Slight nervous excitement; agitation, arising from suspense, desire, or the like. "A widow, which had a twittering toward a second hus- band, took a go iping companion to manage the job."- L'Estrange. twit-ting, pr . par . or a. [TWIT.] twit-ting-ly, adv . [Eng. twitting ; -ly.] In a twitting manner. "He twittingly upbraided them therewith." -Camden: Hist . of Elizabeth (an. 1569). twit-tle-twat-tle, subst . [A redupl. of twattle (q. v.).) Tattle, tittle-tattle, go ip, chatter. "Insipid twittletwattles , frothy jests, and jingling wit- ticisms, inure us to a misunderstanding of things."- L'Estrange. 'twixt, prep . [A contraction of betwixt (q. v.).] Between, betwixt. (Used poetically and collo- quially.) "Underneath the skirt of pannel ' Twixt every two there was a channel." IMG:content-1621.png:[blocks in formation] "You and she are two , I hear." -Swift : Polite Conversa- tion, i. (3) Two faces under the sun , two faces in a hood ; Bot.: Viola tricolor . ( Britten & Holland .) (3) Two - forty speed: A very fast rate of progres- sion; derived from the fact that 2:40 was formerly considered a very fast gait for a trotting horse. Zool .: The Ocellated Water-lizard (q. v.). two-capsuled, a . Having two distinct capsules; bicapsular. two-celled, a. Having two cells; bilocular. two-cleft, a. Divided half way from the border to the base into two segments; bifid. stem of an Iris. two-faced, a. 1. Lit .: Having two faces, like the Roman Janus. 2. Fig .: Deceitful, insincere, treacherous, double- IMG:content-1622.png:[blocks in formation] (1) A small silver coin, formerly current in Eng- land, equivalent to two pence, or one-sixth of a shilling. Now only coined annually, to be given by the sovereign as alms-money on Maundy-Thursday. "You all show like gilt two -pences to me." Shakesp.: Henry IV ., Pt . II . , iv. 3. (2) Two pennies. 2. Bot .: [TWOPENNY-GRASS.] two-petaled, a . IMG:content-1623.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1624.png:[blocks in formation]