Forms: 4 tuicche, 5 twych, 5–6 twycche, 6 twyche, twytche, twitche, 6–9 twich, 5– twitch. Pa. t. and pple. 5 twychyde, 5– twitched, etc.; also 4 twiȝt, -e, Sc. tuiȝt, 4–5 twyȝt, -e, twyght, -e, twyte, twite, 4–7 twight. [ME. twicchen (found earliest in the comb. to-twicchen), = LG. twikken, MHG. and G. zwicken (OHG. *zwicjan, pa. t. kizwicta), prob. representing an OE. *twiccan related to twiccian, TWICK v.]
1. trans. To give a sudden abrupt pull at; to pluck; to jerk; to pluck (a person) by some part of the body or dress; also, to pluck (the strings of a musical instrument, etc.).
[c. 1175–c. 1350: see TO-TWITCH.]
c. 1450. Mankind, 608, in Macro Plays, 23. I was twychyde by þe neke; þe game was be-gunne; A grace was, þe halter brast asondur.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, xxii. (1592), 341. Notwithstanding that our Lawe in euery line … doe reproue vs for it, and after a sort twich vs euery howre by the Cote, to pull vs from it.
1658. Bromhall, Treat. Specters, I. 44. This foul spirit often twitched and pulled them by the hair.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, xi. Providence either forgot or did not think it convenient to twitch me by the Elbow.
1715. S. Croxall, Vision, 15. His fellow Bard … twitch’d the sounding Chords in solemn State.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, III. 458. She … twitch’d her fragrant robe.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xiii. 107. Their master twitched the rope, that was fastened round their necks.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 47. Such strength had they to twitch the thrumming string.
1849. J. Forbes, Physic. Holiday, ix. (1850), 90. The driver hardly twitched the reins or used the whip from first to last.
1889. Gretton, Memory’s Harkback, 88. The rector went and twitched him by the sleeve.
2. intr. To pull or pluck sharply or forcibly; to give a sharp pull or jerk (at something); to tug. Also fig.
c. 1305. St. Lucy, 131, in E. E. P. (1862), 105. Hi gonne to drawe & tuicche And euere lai þis maide stille, hi ne miȝte hire enes icche.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Friar’s T., 265. That was wel twight [v.rr. twyȝt, twite] myn owene lyard boy.
c. 1460. Play Sacrament, 512. Now set on, felouse,… and pluke hys armes awey…; wat, y se he [? read y seye,] twycche, felovse, a ryght.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 210. When she sitteth always … twitching at hir feathers with hir beake.
1824. W. Irving, T. Trav., I. 63. It seemed as if a legion of imps were twiching at him.
1829. Landor, Imag. Conv., Diog. & Plato, Wks. 1846, I. 455/1. Try to barter one with the other, amicably; and not to twitch and carp.
1877. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), II. III. 222. The garment let not go. Already twitch The Demons at its skirts.
1913. Edith Wharton, Custom of Country, I. ii. Fidgeting, twitching at her draperies,… when people were noticing her.
3. trans. (With various advs. and preps.) To pull, draw, or take suddenly or with a jerk; to pull sharply or forcibly; to pluck, snatch. To twitch up (the strings of an instrument), to sound by plucking.
c. 1320. Sir Tristrem, 1952. Þe bord he fond of tviȝt.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 1157 (1185). His swerde anon out of his shethe he tryghte.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1596. Hure swerdes out þay twyȝte.
a. 1450. Le Morte Arth., 1038. That purs … in hond he hente, A letter there-of than oute he twight.
1530. Palsgr., 764/2. I twytche, I pull a thynge sodaynely or hastely, je happe.… He twitched it out of my handes or I was ware.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Jas. v. 38 b. Those riches wherin now you most folishly put your confidence, being twitched awaye.
1575. Turberv., Falconrie, 141. Your hande being twitched away fearefully would make hir proceed the more eagerly.
1658. Gurnall, Chr. in Arm., verse 14. III. xv. § 2. 302. Their fellows that were twitcht up by their gills from them even now with the anglers hook.
1674. Bunyan, Light in Darkness, Wks. (ed. Offor), I. 412. He is mocked, spit upon, His beard is twitched from His cheeks.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 448. Twitched from the perch, He gives the princely bird … to his voracious bag.
1791. A. Wilson, in Poems & Lit. Prose (1876), II. Come twitch up the strings to great ‘John Barleycorn.’
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxi. One of the strings … catching the lock of the musket carried by one of the sentries … and twitching it out of his hand.
1865. Swinburne, Atalanta, 2010. The King twitched his reins in and leapt down.
1876. Trans. Clinical Soc., IX. 5. In this eye I had afterwards to twitch away the partially detached piece.
fig. 1578. Chr. Prayers, in Priv. Prayers (Parker Soc.), 557. Twitch our minds from time to time to the remembrance of so great happiness.
1653. J. Owen, Dissert. Div. Just., Wks. 1852, X. 600. He twitches the argument various ways.
b. To snatch by way of robbery or theft.
1607. Dekker & Wilkins, Jests, etc., 39. He … gaue him a little Justle: and withall, twicht 3 l. out of his pocket.
1655. trans. Com. Hist. Francion, II. 33. To wander about the streets … purposely to try if they could handsomely twich a Cloak.
1849. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. to Dr. Carlyle, Dec., in New Lett. & Mem. (1903), II. 10. Mercifully it was near home that he [a small dog] was twitched up [by a dog-stealer].
† c. To twitch up, to hang. Obs.
1611. R. Bradley, in Coryat’s Crudities, k ij. The Ducall Gallowes … Which twich him vp, when he offends their law.
1625. Sanderson, Serm. Ps. cvi. 30, § 22. To twitch up a poor sheep-stealer.
d. Lumbering. See quots.
1835–40. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 262. He is a giant,… and can twitch a mill-log as easy as a yoke of oxen can.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., To Twitch, to draw timber along the ground by a chain. Used by lumbermen in Maine.
1905. Terms Forestry & Logging (U.S. Dept. Agric., Forestry, Bulletin lxi.), Skid, to draw logs from the stump to the skidway, landing, or mill…. Syn. snake, twitch.
4. To pinch and pull at with or as with pincers or the like; to nip; to hurt or pain, as by doing this. Also fig.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, IV. 544 (572). Thus am I with desir and reson twyght.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 5058. A wight … who is with greuous þoughtes twight.
1440. J. Shirley, Dethe K. James (1818), 22. A paire sharpe tangis, with the which he twitched and all to tare thare skynne and flessh.
1577–87. Holinshed, Chron. (1807), III. 184. To twitch a quareller with such pinsars as wherewith afore he had nipt an other.
a. 1652. Brome, Eng. Moor, V. i. Had … both been kil’d indeed, as you in jest, Where had been then your witty subtilty…? Ha! have I twight ye there?
a. 1680. Charnock, Attrib. God (1834), I. 19. Something in him twitching him upon the pursuit of uncomely actions.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 174. Such Purges as vellicate and twitch the Nerves.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 144. His heart twitched him with a kind of compunction.
1851. D. Jerrold, St. Giles, iv. 31. [He] was twitched by a momentary surprise, but directly recovered himself.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xiii. I am tickled and twitched all over.
5. intr. Mining. Of a vein of ore: To contract; with out, to come to an end; = PINCH v. 14; also trans. of the containing rock: to converge upon and contract or close (a vein of ore); cf. PINCH v. 11.
1709. T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westmld. & Cumbld., xiv. 80. When the Vein opens wide in some place, and again closeth, or as the Miners speak, Twitcheth at both Ends, this is called a Belly of Ore, or Pipe-Ore.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., V j. The Vein keeping a reasonable Compass, and cannot be said to be Twitched.
1789. J. Williams, Min. Kingd., 1. 255. The coal … grew thinner towards the ends of the belly or concavity of the vein, and it soon dwindled away to nothing, and twitched out entirely.
1836. R. Furness, Medicus-Magus, 17. Where wough or rider twitch’d a leading fast.
6. trans. To draw tight by means of a cord or the like; to tie, fasten, secure tightly or firmly. Also with the cord as object. Now dial.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 63. They twitch the offender about the waist with a towell,… pricking him in the body, until they have drawn him within the compass of a span.
1634. T. Johnson, trans. Parey’s Chirurg., VII. xxii. (1678), 186. Ganglia … must be tied with a string at the root, and every day twitched harder and harder.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 66. Twitch the other cooarde a little below the mouth of the newe hive.
1729. Law, Serious C., xix. (1732), 354. Her Stays which her Mother had ordered to be twitch’d so strait [etc.].
1809. T. Donaldson, Poems, 191. The Shoon indeed did leuk fu’ weel,… Ye’d twitcht them weel thegither.
1877. Holderness Gloss., s.v., Twitch thi shavs (sheaves) tighther.
b. To castrate by means of a cord looped over the testicles and drawn tight; see also quot. 1841.
1831. [Youatt], Horse, xii. 227. To the practice of some farmers, of twitching their colts at an early period, sometimes even so early as a month, we have stronger objection.
1841. Hartshorne, Salopia Antiq., s.v. Twitchel, To twitch a horse, or apply to him a twitchel or twitch.
1877. in N. W. Linc. Gloss.
7. To draw up (a limb, etc.) sharply or with a jerk; to move (the skin, etc.) spasmodically or convulsively.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 108. The stryng halte … maketh him to twyche vp his legge sodeynly, and maketh hym to halte.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 132. Ride him vpon new-plowed Lands, or in Wayes that are deepe and heauie, for that will make him twitch vp his legges, and strike them cleane and high.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 203. While the cows, with hobbling strides, Twitching slow their fly-bit hides.
1863. Geo. Eliot, Romola, xviii. A white rabbit … was twitching its nose with much content on a box full of bran.
1897. W. C. Hazlitt, Four Gen. Lit. Fam., I. III. i. 239. As a young man [he] had a way of twitching his ears.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 512. He rolled his eyes, clenched his hands, and twitched both arms and legs.
b. intr. Of a nerve, etc.: To twinge, ‘shoot.’
a. 1845. Hood, True Story, ii. Why then they [teeth] only twitch’d the quicker.
8. intr. To proceed in a jerking or irregular way (obs. rare); now always in reference to involuntary bodily movements: to move in a jerky, spasmodic, or convulsive manner; to jerk, jump, start. Also refl. (const. into).
1593. Nashe, Strange News, G iij. The Hexamiter verse … goes twitching and hopping in our language like a man running vpon quagmiers vp the hill in one Syllable and downe the dale in another.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Weal & Woe, vii. His bony fingers sometimes twitching, sometimes drooping with an appearance of utter helplessness.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 217. I tried to keep my countenance,… but it would not do. My muscles began to twitch.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lviii. If the Major had twitched before, he started now.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 513. His mouth twitched, though his eyes gazed steadily.
1871. B. Taylor, Faust (1875), I. v. 87. In the last convulsion twitching.
1885. Howells, Silas Lapham (1891), I. 15. Some of the younger children had twitched themselves into wavering shadows [in a photograph].
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 519. In 2 [cases] the eyes ‘had been rolled about,’ and in 2 others they had twitched.
b. intr. To go with a sudden swift motion; to dart, shoot.
1836. Partington, Brit. Cycl. Nat. Hist., II. 139/2. It [the shag] floats with wonderful buoyancy in the air, twitches down to the water with the rapidity of lightning.
9. Comb.: twitch-ballock, an earwig; also, a large black beetle; twitch-bell, an earwig; twitch-clock, -clog, a cockroach. All dial.
1658. Rowland, Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1023. The Northern English by an obscene name call it [the earwig] *Twich-ballock.
a. 1800. Pegge, Suppl. Grose, Twitch-ballock, the large black beetle. Lanc.
1790. Grose, Provinc. Gloss. (ed. 2), *Twitchbell, an earwig. North.
1825. in Brockett, N. C. Words.
1863. in Robson, Bards of Tyne, 237. Nee spiders an twitchbells to ’larm ye.
1876. J. Hartley, Yorksher Puddin’, 187. Boxes full o’ butterflies, an buzzards, an *twitchclocks.
Hence Twitched, Twitching ppl. adjs.
1567. Drant, Horace, Epist., vi. D j. If that thy sydes, or Renes becume With twitchinge stitche attainted.
1580. Babington, Exp. Lord’s Prayer (1596), 274. His heart smote him,… and the woorde importeth a twiching smart.
1700. Dryden, Fables, Theod. & Hon., 372. She … fear’d at ev’ry step a twitching spright behind.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 5. The spinning-top whirl’d from the twitching string.
1881. Mivart, Cat, 137. The muscle by its contraction effects those twitching movements of which the cat’s skin is capable.
1883. G. Meredith, Day Dau. Hades, vii. His twitched lips puffing to tell In music his tears and his need.
