Two

numeral a., sb. (adv.) Forms: see below; also TWAIN, TWAY. [OE. twá fem. and neut., tú neut., of the numeral of which the masc. twéʓen survives as TWAIN and TWAY. The forms in the cognate languages which more or less closely correspond to OE. twá and tú are OFris. twâ fem. and neut. (WFris. twa, EFris. twô, NFris. tâw, tau, tô, tû), MDu. and Du. twee, OS. twâ, twô fem., twê neut. (MLG. twô, twu fem., twê neut.; LG. twê, twe), OHG. zwâ, zwô fem., zwei neut. (MHG. zwô, zwei, G. zwei), ON. and Icel. tveir masc., tvǽr fem., tvau (tvö) neut. (Norw. dial. tvei, tvæ, tvo, tvau, etc.; Sw. två, Da. to), Goth. twai masc., twōs fem., twa neut. (For the forms corresponding to the OE. masc. twéʓen see TWAIN.) The word is common to all the Indo-European languages, as Skr. dwau masc., dwē fem. and neut., Gr. δύο, L. duo, OIr. dá, Lith. du, dvi, etc.

  The genitive and dative forms (see A. 2 and A. 3) did not survive beyond the 13th century.

  The pronunc. (tū), like that of who (hū) from OE. hwâ, is due to labialization of the vowel by the w (cf. womb), which then disappeared before the related sound.]

  A.  Illustration of Forms.

  1.  nom. and acc. α. 1, 4–5, Sc. 6 tua, 1–5, dial. –9, Sc. 5– twa (6 Sc. thwa), 8–9 dial. twaa; 7 Sc. tuae, 8– Sc. twne, 9 north. dial. tweae, twea, tweea, twee. (See also TWAY.)

  The later Sc., and rare northern Eng., twa in place of twae, twea, etc., is abnormal, but has parallels in wha WHO, and NA adv.² Examples are given under (b) below.

Beowulf, 1194. Earmhreade twa.

c. 831.  in O. E. Texts, 444. An hriðer … tua flicca. Ibid. Fore Osuulfes sawle twa messan.

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., III. ii. § 1. Tua byriʓ … on eorþan besuncon.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xvii. 35. Twa beoð ætgædere grindende.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. xxv. 23. Twa þeoda … and twa folc. Ibid., xxvii. 9. Bring me twa þa betstan tyccenu.

1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1137. ʓif twa men oþer III coman ridend to an tun.

c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 35. Gulteð o twa half.

a. 1300.  Tua [see B. I. 5 a].

1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 987. Þe tother world … In twa partes divised may be.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, II. 234. Twa Erlis alsua with him war.

c. 1470.  [see B. I. 2].

1483.  Cath. Angl., 398/2. Twa,… duo.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, V. Prol. 17. Tun appetitis vneith accordis with vther.

1540.  Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Cl.), I. 416. Mortificatioun … of thwa merkis ȝerelie.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 3. The tua partes … ar called … from … the first tua sones.

c. 1620.  A. Hume, Brit. Tongue (1865), 8. Of this letter the latines themselfes had tuae other sounds.

1721.  Ramsay, Bessy Bell & Mary Gray, 27. Our fancies jee between you twae [rhyme Gray].

1789.  Burns, Five Carlins, vii. But nae ane could their fancy please, O ne’er a ane but twae.

1802.  Anderson, Cumbld. Ball., Nichol the Newsmonger, vii. I’ve twee, nit aw England can bang them.

1825.  Brockett, N. C. Words, Twea, twee, two.

1851.  Cumberld. Gloss., Twea, two.

1901.  W. Laidlaw, Poetry & Prose, 34. Twae windows. Ibid., 35. The twae were kind to ane an’ a’.

  (b)  1721.  Ramsay, Lucky Spence, xiii. I … whistl’d ben whiles ane, while twa.

1780.  J. Mayne, Siller Gun, I. xxvii. His Craft, the Hammermen, fu’ braw, Led the Procession, twa and twa.

1815.  Scott, Guy M., xxii. I have six terriers at hame, forbye twa couple of slowhunds.

1828.  Craven Gloss., Twaa, two.

  β.  3– two, 4–7 tuo, twoo, (5 thwo); pl. 7 twoes, 7–8 two’s, 9 twos.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. Two turtle briddes, ȝif hie was poure two duue briddes.

a. 1300[?].  Shires & Hundreds Eng., in O. E. Misc., 145. Þis bis[co]pryche wes hwylen two bispriche.

13[?].  Cursor M., 16814 + 18. Vnto þe theues twoo [rhyme froo].

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 282. Tuo watres þer er togidir gon.

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 33. Boþ thwo are dedly synne.

c. 1400.  Laud Troy-bk., 18599. That the traytoures bothe two [rhyme so].

c. 1420.  Chron. Vilod., 3769. He hadde y-fedryde to-gedur his leygus two [rhyme þo].

1447.  Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 75. For victory of tuo mo she must have.

a. 1548.  Twoo [see B. I. 3 b].

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., Pref. 4. It is set-forth … by mo than one or two.

1605.  Camden, Rem., 191. Twoo Monkes.

1611.  Twoes [see B. II. 2].

c. 1620.  A. Hume, Brit. Tongue (1865), 16. At one consonant,… or at tuo consonantes.

c. 1659.  Roxb. Ball. (1887), VI. 324. Here’s a health to the Figure of Two [rhyme adieu].

1697.  [see B. I. 2 d].

1845.  Browning, Time’s Revenges, 22. I am as sure that this he would do, As that Saint Paul’s is striking two.

  γ.  1 tuu, 1, 4 tu, 4–7 tow (5 thow, 6–7 towe).

  Tu, tuu, was only neuter in OE., in ME. tow was general in some dialects.

c. 825.  Vesp. Psalter, lxi. 12. Tu [L. duo] ðas ic ʓeherde.

c. 837.  O. E. Chron., an. 887 (Parker MS.). And tu [Laud MS. twa] folc-ʓefeoht ʓefuhton.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. xv. [xxi.] (1890), 222. Aan biscop sceolde beon ofer tuu folc.

a. 950.  Rituale Dunelm. (Surtees), 106. Voeron … tvv in lichome anvm.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xxiv. 41. Tuu wil ʓegrundon on coernae.

13[?].  Cursor M., 16786 (Gött.). Þe stanes brast, þe temple clef in tu [Trin. in two].

13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 866. I haf a tresor in my telde of tow my fayre deȝter.

1422.  trans. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv., 164. The thow Sharpe eggis of youre Swerde.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xix. 86. Tow townes betwene.

1510.  in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 394. Every couper shall gyve towe toune hopis for a penye.

1536.  Exhort. to North, 64, in Furnivall, Ball. fr. MSS., I. 306. Bothe nowghty Cromwell and the chancelleres towe [rhyme knowe].

1597.  Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 127. Paid … for mending of tow baudrigs to the bells, xv d.

1602.  Carew, Eng. Tongue, ¶ 19. Yf, like towe Turkeyes,… wee match it with our neighboures.

1666.  Wood, Life, 11 Dec. (O.H.S.), II. 95. I walked tow dayes before in the garden.

  δ.  2–6 to, 4–6 too, 5–6 toe (6 tooe).

1154.  O. E. Chron., an. 1137. To munekes him namen and bebyried him.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 11150. Wiþoute þe toun to mile.

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 330. Com of hym to noble sones.

c. 1400.  Too [see B. I. 3 a].

c. 1420.  Anturs of Arth., xl. (Ireland MS.). Syxti maylis and moe, The squrd squappes in toe, His canel-bone allsoe.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 495/1. To, or tweyne (K. to, nowmere), duo.

c. 1460.  J. Metham, Wks. (E.E.T.S.), 61/1625. Amoryus and Cleopes must dye ther with both to [rhyme so].

a. 1500.  Brome Bk., 17. Ȝe that have sys, dewes, and too [rhyme goo].

a. 1552.  Leland, Itin. (1907), II. 141. I saw to antique heddes.

1552–3.  Inv. Ch. Goods, Staffs., in Ann. Lichfield, IV. 85. Tooe ornaments of dornex.

1558.  in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 89. Syse, toe pannes—iiij^d.

1567.  Drant, Horace, Epist., II. ii. H iv. Too Orators … th’ one was to the other … a faste ytrothed brother.

  2.  genitive. 1 tweʓe (twoeʓa), tweʓea, tweaʓea, tueʓa; tweʓra (twoeʓra, tuoeʓara), 2 tweiȝre, 2–3 tweire, 3 tweyre, twere.

Beowulf, 2531. Uncer tweʓa.

c. 825.  Vesp. Hymns, vi. 2. In midle twoeʓa netna [duorum animalium] cuðas.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xvi. [xxvii.] (1890), 70. Tweʓra ʓebroðra bearn oððe tweʓea ʓesweostra sunu & dohtor.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xiv. 86. Ðæt tweaʓea [Hatton tweʓea] bleo godweb.

c. 950.  Lindisf. Gosp., John viii. 17. Tuoeʓara monna uittnesa.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xviii. 16. On tweʓra oððe þreora ʓewittnesse [Hatton tweiʓre].

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 95. Tweire kinne.

a. 1250.  Owl & Night., 991. Weþer is betere of twere [v.r. tweyre] twom.

  b.  possessive genitive. 6 twoos, twooes, 7 twoes, 7– two’s.

1510–20.  Twoos [see B. I. 2].

1587.  Twooes [see B. I. 5 a].

1619.  Hieron, Wks., I. 34. After a yeare or twoes nursing.

1676.  Ray, Corr. (1848), 126. A year or two’s time.

1773.  Two’s [see B. I. 5 a].

  3.  dative. 1 twæm, tuæm, 1–3 twam, 3 twom.

Beowulf, 1191. Be þæm ʓebroðrum twæm.

c. 900.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. x. [xiii.] (1890), 48. Betwih him twam.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxii. 40. On þysum twam [Lindisf. tuæm; Rushw. twæm] bebodum.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 133. Of twat þingen.

a. 1250.  Twom [see 2 above].

c. 1275.  Woman of Samaria, 40, in O. E. Misc., 85. Bi-twene þis twam volke.

  B.  Signification.

  The cardinal number next after one; one added to one: denoted by the symbols 2 or II.

  I.  adj.

  1.  In concord with a sb. expressed.

  Frequent in proverbial expressions, as to make two bites of a cherry (BITE sb. 4, CHERRY sb. 1 b); to have two strings to one’s bow (BOW sb.¹ 4 c); of two evils (or ills) choose the less (EVIL sb. 4, ILL sb. 5 b); between two fires (FIRE sb. 14); two heads are better than one (HEAD sb. 62); as like as two peas (PEA¹ 1 c); etc.

  Two men (quot. 1533), the duumviri: see DUUMVIR.

Beowulf, 1095. Ða hie ʓetruwedon on twa healfe fæste frioðuwære.

a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol., 21 Sept., 172. Æfter Cristes upastignesse he ʓelærde twa [v.r. twua] mægða to godes ʓeleafan.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke ii. 24. Twa turtlan, oððe tweʓen culfran briddas.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 7. Þe castel þe wes aȝeines drih[t]nes twa leornikenehtes; he bitacnet þeos world.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 10. Þer beoð two dolen to two manere of men.

13[?].  Coer de L., 504. Hys schelde in twoo peces off.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 310. Tow pyllers he pight … Vppon Gades groundes.

c. 1485.  Digby Myst., I. 240. To sle all the children … within to yeer of age.

1530.  Palsgr., 594/1. Two wyttes be farre better than one.

1533.  Bellenden, Livy, II. v. (S.T.S.), I. 256. The solempne preistis, namyt the two men, war commandit to serche þe werkis of Cibil.

1611.  [Tarlton], Jests (1844), 21. Two tailors goe to a man.

1671.  Milton, P. R., I. 159. To conquer Sin and Death the two grand foes.

c. 1765.  Gray, Satire, 16. As like as two beans.

1850.  McCosh, Div. Govt., III. ii. (1874), 335. The two inductive methods of acquiring knowledge … are observation and experiment.

1875.  T. W. Higginson, U.S. Hist., vii. 49. No two explorers agreed about the actual shape of the coast.

  b.  With a superlative, either following (the two best, eldest, first, last, next, etc.; † formerly sometimes two the first, etc.), or in later use preceding (the first two, etc.): the latter is now somewhat more usual. Cf. FIRST a. 2 e, LAST a. 1 b. So with former, latter. (Also absol., as in 2.)

c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 52. Emme þe quene … of þe whilk was born Alfred & Edward, Hardknoute þe þrid, Þe tuo first of Eilred, of Knoute Hardknoute tid.

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 2162. Tvo þe bremest white beres þat euer burn on loked.

c. 1471.  Fortescue, Wks. (1869), 459. Than nedith it, that the Kyngs Lyvelood … be gretter than the Lyvelood of two the grettest Lords in Englond.

1556.  Olde, Antichrist, 70. I haue … expounded two the furst.

1560.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 44 b. Which two last were not agreed vpon.

1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 249. [The echo] will … report you the whole three Words; And then the two latter Words…; and then the last Word alone.

1635.  J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Banish’d Virg., Ep. Ded. The translation of the two first bookes of … Sir Phillip Sydney’s Arcadia.

1669–.  The last two [see LAST a. 1 b (b)].

1688.  Dryden, Lines on Milton. To make a third, she joined the former two.

1692.  Bp. Patrick, Answ. Touchstone, xiv. 100. The two first of them. Ibid. The two next.

1704–.  The first two [see FIRST a. 2 e (c)].

1805.  Southey, Lett., 15 Nov., in Life (1850), II. 353. The two best ships in the navy.

1829.  Jas. Mill, Hum. Mind (1869), II. 329. The association theory may account for the two last, but not for the former.

  c.  Two parts: two out of three equal parts (cf. PART sb. 5), two thirds (see 3 c). Chiefly Sc., usually in form the twa part (sometimes as one word twapart). So twa daill (DEAL sb.¹ 1).

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, V. 47. Mair than twa part [v.r. partis] of his rout. Ibid., 369. In schort tym men mycht se ly Þe twapart ded, or þan deand.

c. 1475.  Rauf Coilȝear, 123. He tyt the King be the nek, twa part in tene.

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), II. 21. He loissit be Storme of the Se the Tua Part of his Schippis.

1565.  Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 334. To confisk thair gudis, the twa daill to the Quenis Majesteis behuif, and the thrid to the conservatour.

c. 1611.  Chapman, Iliad, X. 223. Two parts of night are past, the third is left.

1637–50.  Row, Hist. Kirk (Wodrow Soc.), 36. Shall Papists peaceablie possess a twa-part of the patrimonie of the Kirk…, and shall Christ’s Ministers … not have a third?

1678.  Sir G. Mackenzie, Crim. Laws Scot., I. xxiii. § 7 (1699), 118. The two part thereof belongs to the King, and the third to the Sheriffs.

1808–25.  Jamieson, Twa part, twaparte, two thirds…. This mode of expression is still quite common…. The twa part and third, i. e., two thirds, and the remaining one.

  d.  Two times as advb. phr. (expressing repetition or multiplication) is now used only with a demonstrative or defining word; otherwise twice is substituted: see TWICE.

a. 1450.  Knt. de la Tour (1906), 43. The auicion come to hem bi two tymes.

c. 1489.  Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, iii. 67. He was discomfyted two tymes.

1535.  Coverdale, Ecclus. xlv. 14. Daylie perfourmed he his burntofferinges two tymes.

1574.  Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep. (1577), 112. Two times I haue moued the Cardinal Tortosa in your busines.

Mod.  I have known it happen two separate times. I called upon him three times, but saw him only once; the other two times he was away.

  e.  As ordinal: = SECOND a. 1. Now only after the sb. (also number two); cf. II. 1 c.

1586.  W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 62. Make short either the two, foure, sixe, eight, tenne, twelue sillable.

1824.  De Quincey, Templars’ Dial. Pol. Econ., vi. § 2, in Misc. (1854), 251. Column two.

1911.  Act 1 & 2 Geo. V., c. 14 § 1. The additional duty … imposed by the second paragraph of section two of that Act.

Mod.  Hymn number two.

  2.  absol. with ellipsis of sb. (which may usually be supplied from context; also often = ‘two persons’), or after a pronoun or demonstrative, or as predicate. (For both two see BOTH A. 7.)

  Also in proverbial expressions, as two can play at that game; two’s company, three’s none (COMPANY sb. 1 d).

c. 882.  O. E. Chron., an. 882 (Parker MS.). Ælfred … þara scipa tu [Laud MS. twa] ʓenam.

c. 890.  trans. Bæda’s Hist., I. xvi. [xxvii.] (1890), 70. Wer & wiif, heo tu beoð in anum lichoman.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 31. He wule … eaten … et ane mele swa muchel swa et twam.

c. 1200.  Ormin, 429. Swa ne didenn nohht ta twa.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 202. Uor monie reisuns…. Two ich chulle siggen. Ibid., 406. I þisse tweire monglunge.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 308 (Cott.) Þe hali gost comms of hem tua.

a. 1375.  Joseph Arim., 184. Þe bark of þat on semede dimmore þen ouþer of þe oþer two.

c. 1425.  Cast. Persev., 679, in Macro Plays, 97. To may not to-gedyr stonde, but I, Bakbyter, be þe thyrde.

c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, IV. 781. Twa him beheld, and said: ‘We will go se.’

1510–20.  Compl. too late maryed (1862), 3. I wyll … a wyfe to me take For to increase both our twoos lynage.

1535.  Coverdale, Eccl. iv. 9. Two are better then one.

1556.  Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 55. Too of the men that labord at yt.

1560.  Bible (Genev.), Amos iii. 3. Can two walke together except thei be agreed?

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., V. (S.T.S.), I. 298. Ilk of the tua slayis othir.

c. 1610.  Women Saints, 166. Committed to our twoes knowledge onelie.

1612.  Colson, Gen. Tresury, A j b. The generall parts … are only two, or of two sorts.

c. 1620.  A. Hume, Brit. Tongue (1865), 1. Nae tuae of the tuentie … wald agree.

1653.  W. Ramesey, Astrol. Restored, 335. Here is two to two,… we stand upon equal terms.

1768.  Pennant, Zool., II. 363. The males, or Ruffs, assume such variety of colors … that it is scarce possible to see two alike.

1779.  Warner in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 101. The Ministry carried it two to one.

1820.  Keats, Hyperion, I. 85. These two were postured motionless.

1847.  Helps, Friends in C., I. vi. 94. What do you two … think about representative government?

1875.  Tennyson, Q. Mary, I. iv. The two were fellow-prisoners.

1884.  Flor. Marryat, Under the Lilies and Roses (Tauchn.), II. x. 145. Now, don’t you call me any names, or you will find that two can play at that game.

  b.  With ellipsis of hours, in stating the time of day; also two o’clock. Also with ellipsis of years (of age), as a child of two.

c. 1485.  in Digby Myst. (1882), 167. At the parvyse I wyll be…, be-twyn two and three.

1510.  Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden), II. 72. Abowt twoo of the Clok in the nyght.

1600.  Shaks., A. Y. L., IV. i. 183. By two a clock I will be with thee againe.

1795.  H. Macneill, Will & Jean, xlvi. Now that nightly meetings Sat and drank frae sax till twa.

1799.  Wordsw., Lucy Gray, v. The minster-clock has just struck two.

1884.  A. Wainwright, in Harper’s Mag., July, 272/1. From two o’clock, when the doors are opened, until ‘two-fifteen,’ the ‘two-twenty’ train gradually fills without confusion.

  c.  In († on) two (after vbs. expressing division or the like): into or in two parts or pieces. (See also A-TWO.)

c. 890.  O. E. Chron., an. 885 (Parker MS.). Her to dælde se fore sprecena here on tu [v.r. twa].

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Mark xv. 38. Þæs temples wah-rift was tosliten on twa [Lindisf. & Rushw. in tuu].

c. 1275.  Passion of our Lord, 448, in O. E. Misc., 50. Hi nolden hyne nouht delen a to ne a þreo.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 1957 (Cott.). O beist has clouen fote in tua [v.rr. to, two].

c. 1400.  Laud Troy Bk., 5942. Ther he smot on-two his polle.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Sam. ii. 31. I wyll breake thyne arme in two.

1623.  Gouge, Serm. Extent God’s Provid., § 15. The massy timber shivered in two.

1794–5.  in B. Ward, Dawn Cath. Revival (1909), II. 119. A Collier’s vessel fell foul of ours, and broke the cable in two.

1805.  G. McIndoe, Poems, 107. This trout … Was faulded in twa like a speldin.

  † (b)  So as to be separate the one from the other; asunder, apart. Obs.

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., vii. 49. Ðeah heo an tu tefleowe, ðeah wæs sio æspryng sio soðe lufu.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., I. 388. Ða … wearð him [sc. Paul and Barnabas] ʓeþuht þæt hi on-twa ferdon.

c. 1430.  Syr Tryam., 60. Betwene the quene and the kyng Was grete sorowe … When they schulde parte in twoo.

  d.  Two and two, two by two, formerly also by two and two: in groups or sets of two; two at a time; by twos.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Hom., II. 528. He sende hi twam and twam ætforan him.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 281/109. He saiȝ þe freres go Þoruȝ þe londe, two and two.

13[?].  Cursor M., 1713. Ȝee sal … tak … Beist and fouxul … Þe meke be þam ai tua and tua, Þe wild do be þam-self al-sua.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xix. 87. Before þe chariot gase … all þe maydens of þe cuntree, twa and twa togyder.

c. 1440.  Capgrave, St. Kath., IV. 1264. The clerkis eke were sette be too and too.

a. 1533.  Ld. Berners, Huon, lxii. 216. Guyer held his brother Gerames by the hande, and so all the other .ii, and .ii.

c. 1575.  J. Hooker, Life Sir P. Carew, in Archæologia, XXVIII. 144. Foremoste wente all the soylders … by tooe and tooe.

1604.  E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, VI. xxviii. 494. They daunced two and two.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 270. Join’d with his School-Fellows by two and two [rhyme pursue].

1709–10.  Addison, Tatler, No. 120, ¶ 3. Coming out Two by Two, and marching up in Pairs.

1863.  Stanley, Serm. in East, App. I. 153. We started on foot, two and two, between two files of soldiers.

  † e.  Rule of two (Arith.): an inclusive name for the ordinary rules for finding a third number from two given numbers, viz. those of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. (Cf. rule of three, RULE sb. 8 b.) Obs. rare.

1612.  Colson, Gen. Tresury, A j b. The … Rules of two, of three, of Reduction. Ibid., B bb j/1. The Rule of Two is by two numbers knowne to finde out the third…, and is generally of two sorts, Rationall, and Proportionall. The Rule of Two Rationall … is of two sorts,… Addition … Substraction.

  3.  Forming compound numerals.

  a.  Added to multiples of ten, as two-and-thirty, now usually thirty-two; a hundred and two. So formerly (now rarely) with the ordinals, as two-and-fiftieth (now almost always fifty-second).

  † Two-and-thirty, a pip out see PIP sb.² 1 b.

  Two-and-twentieth (Mus.), a note 22 diatonic degrees (= 3 octaves) above or below a given note (both notes being reckoned); hence, an interval of 3 octaves; spec. an organ-stop formerly used, sounding 3 octaves above the normal pitch. (Now TWENTY-SECOND.)

c. 893.  K. Ælfred, Oros., VI. ii. § 1. Þara twa & twentiʓra monna.

a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol., 29. On þone twa & twentiʓðan dæʓ.

c. 961.  Æthelwold, Rule St. Benet, xiii. (1885), 37. Se twa and feowertiʓeða sealm.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 47. On þe two and þrittuðe dai.

1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 11861 To & tuenti kniȝtes.

c. 1380.  Antecrist, in Todd, 3 Treat. Wyclif, 121. In þe two and þritti boke.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 2747. There were twenty and too.

1488–92.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 80. Sex score twa bedis and a knop.

1579.  Fulke, Heskins’ Parl., 201. The two and twentieth Chapter.

1613.  Organ Specif. Worcester Cathedral. In the chaire organ 1 flute of wood, 1 two and twentith of mettal.

1768.  Foote, Devil on 2 Sticks, III. Wks. 1799, II. 276. The two-and-fiftieth part of a scruple.

1896.  Mrs. Caffyn, Quaker Grandmother, 137. Two-and-thirty last March.

  b.  As multiplier before dozen, score, or before hundred, thousand, million, etc., or the ordinals of these.

  Also in comb., as two-hundred-mile-long adj.; two-hundred-pound adj. (weighing, or costing, two hundred pounds).

a. 900.  Cædmon’s Exod., 184 (Gr.). Hæfde him alesen leoda duʓeðe tireadiʓra twa þusendo.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John vi. 7. On tweʓera hundred peneʓa wurþe.

c. 1205.  Lay., 1556. Þa he hefde twa [c. 1275 two] hundred mid sweorde to-hewen.

c. 1290.  S. Eng. Leg., I. 91/145. In þe to hondrede ȝere.

a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., 147 b. Twoo hundred thousande Crouncs.

1807.  Herschel in Phil. Trans., XCVII. 228. Its thickness at one end was 33, and at the other 31 two-hundredths of an inch.

1867.  Thirlwall, Lett. (1881), II. 118. The two hundred mile long iceberg is still afloat.

1895.  Mrs. B. M. Croker, Village Tales (1896), 122. Tall and erect,… carrying his two-score years with grace.

1897.  Outing (U.S.), XXIX. 439/1. A two-hundred-pound buck.

  c.  As multiplier before an ordinal expressing an aliquot part (i.e., as numerator of a fraction), as two-thirds; also attrib. as a two-thirds majority.

[c. 1643.  Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824), 6. The other two third parts.]

1776.  Adam Smith, W. N., I. xi. III. (1869), I. 241. In the Saxon times the fleece was estimated at two-fifths of the value of the whole sheep.

1777.  Robertson, Hist. Amer. (1783), III. 263. All laws … must be approved of by two-thirds of the members.

1888.  Rutley, Rock-Forming Min., 3. The wire is then bent to about two-thirds of a circle.

1910.  H. W. Steed, in Encycl. Brit., III. 38/2. The German parties … stipulated that a two-thirds majority should be necessary for any alteration of the law.

  4.  In pregnant sense: = Two different, two distinct.

  To be in two minds: see MIND sb.¹ 11 e.

1570.  T. Wilson, Demosthenes, 42, margin. To say and to do are two things.

1603.  Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iv. 112. Ignomie in ransome, and free pardon Are of two houses.

1754.  Richardson, Grandison (1811), I. xii. 71. A learned man and a linguist may very well be two persons.

1797.  Burke, Regic. Peace, iii. Wks. VIII. 273. But reason of state and common sense are two things.

1865.  Ruskin, Sesame, i. § 25. There need be no two opinions about these proceedings.

1895.  G. S. Street, Episodes, 134. Gerald in town and Gerald in the country were two people.

  † b.  predicatively: Discordant, disagreeing, at variance. (Cf. ONE 14, TWAIN B. 3 a.) Obs.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1892), II. 547. The Author thereof and I are two in point of opinion.

1738.  Swift, Pol. Conversat., 105. When did you see your old Acquaintance, Mrs. Cloudy? You and She are Two, I hear.

  5.  a. A … or two: an indefinite small number of (the things denoted by the sb.); one or two of…; a few…. (For one or two see ONE B. I. 2. c.)

  The whole phrase may take the possessive inflexion, as a year or two’s experience = the experience of a year or two.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 4342 (Cott.). Spek wit me a word or tua.

1543.  Sel. Cases Star Chamb. (Selden), II. 267. A moneth or Towe before the said Faire.

1587.  Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 1419/1. After a daie or twooes tariance.

1615–6.  in J. C. Jeaffreson, Middlesex Co. Rec. (1886), II. 113. To answere the causing of a tumult…, a poore man or two being much hurt.

1773.  Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., V. i. An hour or two’s laughing with my daughter.

1861.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 45. The garden, where a vine or two and some of the finer sorts of fruit were trained.

  b.  Two or three (dial. two-three, Sc. twa-three): an indefinite (small or inconsiderable) number (of); a few.

1500–20.  Dunbar, Poems, lxxi. 4. Ȝeiris and dayis mo than two or thre.

1557.  Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872), 240. The baillies, accumpanit with the thesaurare and tun thre honest men.

1669.  Extr. S. P. rel. Friends, IV. (1913), 296. Here is many theeues and two Three murtherers and aboue thirty quakers in the Castle.

1670.  Lady Mary Bertie, in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 21. The under pettycoatt very richly laced with two or three sorts of lace.

1785.  Burns, Death & Dr. Hornbk., xxiv. In twa-three year.

1843.  Borrow, Bible in Spain, xxviii. (Pelb. Libr.), 198. The walls being covered with books except in two or three places.

1893.  Stevenson, Catriona, xv. 166. She was daundering on the craigs wi’ two-three sodgers.

  c.  So rarely two simply.

1661.  in Extr. S. P. rel. Friends, II. (1911), 136. We humbly intreate two lynes from your hands.

  II.  sb.

  1.  The abstract number equal to one and one. Also in phrases, as two and two make four, used as a typically obvious or undeniable statement; to put two and two together, to consider two or several facts together and draw an inference; to reason about something and come to a conclusion (cf. PUT v. 52 e).

1697.  Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., II. (1703), 85. The … notion … is as clear as that two and two makes four.

1848.  Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xvii. When will you acknowledge that two and two make four, and call a pikestaff a pikestaff? Ibid. (1855), Newcomes, xlix. Putting two and two together … it was not difficult … to guess who the expected Marquis was.

1875.  Whitney, Life Lang., 279. Mathematics began with the apprehension that one and one are two.

1898.  W. W. Jacobs, Sea Urchins, Disbursem. Sheet (1906), 138. Twenty-eight twos equals fifty-six.

  b.  The figure (2) denoting this number.

1877.  Daily News, 21 Nov., 3/5. Two and two don’t always make four, but sometimes 22.

1886.  Punch, 23 Feb., 84/2. ‘2222.’ Four twos!

  c.  A person or thing denoted by this number, usually as being the second in a series. Also number two.

1890.  [see NUMBER sb. 5].

1890.  Eng. Illustr. Mag., April, 499. Smith who rowed two in the last University race.

  2.  A group or set of two persons or things; a pair, couple. Usually in pl.

a. 1585.  Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 208. In anes and twaes.

1611.  Shaks., Wint. T., I. ii. 438. By twoes, and threes.

1625.  in Rymer, Fœdera (1726), XVIII. 237/1. Eighte greate Rocke Rubies and twenty greate Pearles sett in twoes.

a. 1758.  Ramsay, Fables, xvii. 20. Pike out joys by twas and threes.

1865.  Kingsley, Herew., xxxiv. They would lodge by twos and threes … in the lonely farmhouse.

1902.  Violet Jacob, Sheep-Stealers, ix. The people dispersed in twos and threes.

  b.  A card or domino, or the side of a die, marked with two pips or spots.

a. 1500.  Brome Bk., 17. Ȝe that haue sys, dewes, and too.

1680.  Cotton, Compl. Gamester (ed. 2), 12. You have … turn’d up two two’s, or two treys.

Mod.  He took the trick with the two of trumps.

  c.  In military drill, A set of two men forming a unit in wheeling.

1796.  Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 106. The two’s must first wheel up, and then break into three’s, and close up.

1833.  Regul. Instr. Cavalry, I. Plate 16. Twos from the Right at three horses length distance.

  d.  Cricket. A hit for which two runs are scored.

1881.  Daily News, 21 June, 3/7. A capital innings, which included seven fours, a three, and four twos.

  e.  slang or colloq. Two pennyworth (of spirits).

1894.  Henty, Dorothy’s Double, i. I don’t mind if I do take a two of gin with you.

1896.  Daily News, 23 Sept., 3/5. He had had six twos of whiskey.

  f.  Two-at-length, a tandem.

1823.  E. Nares, Heraldic Anomalies (1824), I. 355. Driving their fours-in-hand, and twos-at-length.

  g.  In two twos: in a very short time; directly, immediately. slang or colloq.

1838.  Haliburton, Clockm., Ser. II. xiv. 211. The press can lash us up to a fury here in two twos any day. Ibid., xxi. 315. They’d soon set these matters right in two twos.

1882.  Stevenson, New Arab. Nts., II. 112. The business was over in two twos.

  † III.  adv. = TWICE 2; followed by so and a word expressing quantity = twice as (much, etc.). Obs.

c. 900.  O. E. Chron., an. 897. Lang scipu … þa wæron fulneah tu swa lange swa þa oðru.

13[?].  Coer de L., 3128. The hethenes wer twoo so fele.

c. 1350.  Lybeaus Disc., 1446. Now am y two so lyght.

c. 1420.  Sir Amadace (Camden), l. He wold gif hom toe so muche … As any lord.

  IV.  Combinations (unlimited in number; the following are examples).

  1.  a. Adjectives formed of two with a sb. in sense of, ‘pertaining to, consisting of, having, containing, measuring, etc., two of the things named,’ as two-anna (of the value of two annas), -bond, -bout (formed by two bouts of the plow), -bushel, -cent, -chamber, -cylinder, -day, -deck, -figure, -floor, -fluid, -gallon, -groove, -guinea, -hour, -inch, † -kind, -light (LIGHT sb. 10), -man, -mast, -mile, -minute, -needle(s), -ounce, -party, -phase (PHASE 3; cf. THREE-phase), -ply (PLY sb. 1), -pound, quart, -rail, -room, -row, -shilling, -speed, -stall, -story, -stroke, -syllable, -wheel. b. Parasynthetic adjectives formed on similar collocations, usually with -ED², in sense ‘having or characterized by two of the things named,’ as two-arched, -armed, -barred, -barrelled, -bedded, -bristled, -capsuled, -celled, -chambered, -colored, -dimensional, -flowered, -formed, -grained, -grooved, -handled, -horned, -humped, -lobed, -masted, -membered, -named, -necked, -nerved, -oared, -peaked, -petaled, -pronged, -ranked, -roomed, -rowed, -seeded, -shanked, -shaped, -spined, -spotted, -stalled, -storied, -stringed, -tined, -toed, -toothed, -topped, -valved, -wheeled, -winged; also with other endings, as two-dimensional, -handy (see TWO-HANDED), -monthly (see 2). c. Parasynthetic sbs. in -ER¹, as two-feeder, two-master (a two-masted vessel), -mover (MOVER¹ 7), -pounder, -sticker (colloq. two-master), -wheeler; see also two-yearer in 2, TWO-DECKER, TWO-HANDER. d. Adjectives formed of two in adverbial relation to an adj. or pple. (= in two, doubly), as two-cleft, -ploughed, -soused, -twisted: see also two-high in 2, TWO-FORKED, TWO-PARTED … Adjs. and sbs. formed from phrases, as two-and-a-half-inch, two-days’-old, two-feet-nine adjs.; † two-face-bearer (cf. TWO-FACED), two-pound-tenner.

1899.  Westm. Gaz., 9 Feb., 4/2. That hatch was of *two-and-a-half inch teak.

1882.  F. M. Crawford, Mr. Isaacs, xi. A *two-anna bit.

1897.  W. C. Hazlitt, 4 Generations, II. 183. The *two-arched bridge at Rugby.

1725.  Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., V. iii. Prol. Sir William fills the *twa-arm’d chair.

1894.  R. B. Sharpe, Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit., I. 59. The *two-barred Crossbill. Loxia bifasciata.

1852.  Mundy, Our Antipodes (1857), 114. *Two-barrelled guns.

1843.  Borrow, Bible in Spain, vii. 42. A large *two-bedded room.

1900.  Daily News, 13 Oct., 674. The propeller is *two-bladed.

1674.  Ray, Collect. Words, Mann. Wire Work, 133. A *two-bond wire as big as a great pack-thread.

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 409. The *two-bout ridges, as they are called, may be the most advantageous.

1681.  Grew, Musæum, I. VII. i. 156. The *Two-Bristled-Fly.

1796.  W. H. Marshall, W. England, II. 61. The Corn Market well filled with long *two-bushel bags; chiefly of wheat.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Two-capsuled. See Bicapsular. Ibid., Bilocular pericarp … *two-celled, divided into two cells internally…. Some seeds are also two-celled.

1902.  Eliz. L. Banks, Newspaper Girl, xiv. Dinah got a letter through the American mail. She had fivepence to pay on it, because only a common *two-cent stamp had been stuck on it.

1898.  Daily News, 16 Feb., 7/6. The advantages or disadvantages of a bicameral system,… a *two-Chamber system.

1851.  Richardson, Geol., viii. (1855), 229. A *two-chambered heart.

1888.  Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. II. xl. 86. Its two-chambered legislature.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Two-cleft, or Bifid.… Utricularia is an instance of the two-cleft perianth.

1648.  Hexham, II. Twee-verwigh, *Two-coloured, or Partie-coloured.

1827.  Griffith, Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., V. 251. Sciurus Bicolor (Two-coloured Squirrel).

1885.  W. Pater, Marius, II. xx. A two-sided or two-coloured thing.

1901.  Westm. Gaz., 9 Dec., 8/2. Rigal, on his *two-cylinder, 12-h.p. tricycle.

1898.  Harper’s Mag., XCVI. 829. They … can only make *two-day … cruises.

1868.  Swinburne, Blake, 9. The *two-days-old baby.

1877.  Wisconsin State Jrnl., 16 June, 4/3. [They] brought to her a two days’ old boy, done up in a market basket, and requested her take charge of it, agreeing to pay her liberally for so doing.

1797.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVII. 403/2. In all *two-deck ships it [the fire hearth] is placed under the forecastle.

1898.  Sir W. Crookes, in Daily News, 8 Sept., 6/3. I was like some *two-dimensional being who might stand at the singular point of a Riemann’s surface, and thus find himself in … inexplicable contact with a plane of existence not his own.

1885.  W. K. Clifford, Common Sense Exact Sc., 223. *Two-dimensioned space.

c. 1515.  Cocke Lorell’s B., 11. Flaterers, and *two face berers.

1886.  Daily News, 18 Oct., 7/2. News Machine Wanted, fast *two-feeder.

1905.  Daily Chron., 13 July, 5/1. What is known as the *two-feet-nine seam.

1890.  W. J. Gordon, Foundry, 223. The percentage of profit … may be a fraction with a *two-figure denominator.

1898.  F. M. Hueffer in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 182. A two-figure sketch by Burne-Jones.

1900.  Daily News, 11 July, 7/5. A … *two-floor building.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Two-flowered peduncle.

1909.  Daily Chron., 20 March, 3/5. Here you first find the two-flowered yellow violet … 3,500 feet above the level of the sea.

1866.  R. M. Ferguson, Electr. (1870), § 31. The *two-fluid theory of Dufay and Symmers, and the one-fluid theory of Franklin.

1876.  Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 244. Two-fluid batteries.

1743.  Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, II. xx. 2. A *two-form’d poet.

1693.  T. Power in Dryden’s Juvenal, XII. (1697), 307. A *two Gallon Draught.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., Dicoccous or *two-grained capsule…. Consisting of two cohering grains or cells, with one seed in each.

1846.  Greener, Sc. Gunnery, 357. A *two-grooved rifle.

1803.  Hatchett, in Phil. Trans., XCIII. 137. A *two-guinea piece.

1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 368. A man, who, bred to the bar, had never had a two-guinea fee in his life.

1839.  Ure, Dict. Arts, 764. The fleshing knife; a large *two-handled implement [with] which the hide is scraped.

1877.  J. D. Chambers, Div. Worship, 258. A two-handled Chalice.

1561.  Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 5 b. The old seuenheaded, and the new *twohorned beast to be seene, which is the description of Antichrist.

1628.  A. Leighton, Zion’s plea agst. Prelacy, ix. (1842), 121. A two-horned idol, pushing both the Church and Commonwealth.

1781.  Pennant, Hist. Quad., I. 136. Two-horned Rhinoceros.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., Bicornes (two-horned). Plants with anthers having two horns.

1848.  Mill, Pol. Econ., II. viii. § 3 (1876), 189. A cowhouse for two-horned cattle.

1900.  Westm. Gaz., 15 Nov., 2/1. We … did not dismount except for a *two-hour halt till three p.m.

1834.  Nat. Philos., III. Phys. Geog., 55/2 (Usef. Knowl. Soc.). The *two-humped or Bactrian camel.

1639.  Crabtree Lect., 184. I will make you looke through a *two inch boord [i.e., pillory].

1748.  Anson’s Voy., III. viii. 380. A strong net-work of two inch rope.

1859.  F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 309. A two-inch rope means a rope two inches in circumference.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 328. A fountain capable of filling … a two-inch pipe.

1613.  W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. iv. The *two-kinde Bat.

1882.  Vines, Sachs’ Bot., 466. Divisions take place in the epidermal cells by … which the wall becomes *two-layered.

1859.  Cornwallis, Panorama New World, I. 221. The sunshine glancing through a *two-light window.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Two-lobed leaf. Bilobum folium.

1847.  W. E. Steele, Field Bot., 167. Neottia,… lip dependant, 2-lobed.

1895.  Outing (U.S.), XXVI. 399/1. A *two-man balloon.

1911.  Q. Rev., Jan., 215. The two-man Government … becomes one-man Government.

1775.  Dalrymple, in Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 400. A small *two-mast vessel.

1774.  Hull Dock Act, 33. *Two-masted vessels.

1899.  Quiller-Couch, Ship of Stars, xxiv. That there *two-master’s got a fool for skipper.

1905.  Westm. Gaz., 29 Nov., 2/2. A *two-membered constituency.

1909.  R. Law, Tests of Life, i. 2. Two membered sentences.

1875.  W. S. Hayward, Love agst. World, 117. A *two-mile spin.

1895.  Outing (U.S.), XXVII. 48/1. A *two-minute gait [i.e., at the rate of a mile in 2 minutes; cf. two-forty in 2].

1905.  Westm. Gaz., 23 Dec., 2/3. There were two-minute intervals between the start of each bob.

1891.  Athenæum, 31 Jan., 148/1. Thirty-six *two-movers.

1661.  T. Ross, Silius Italicus, I. 13. By the Banks of *two-nam’d Ister.

1854.  J. Scoffern, in Orr’s Circ. Sc., Chem., 14. The mouths of a *two-necked bottle.

1890.  Billings, Med. Dict., *Two-needles operation, tearing through a secondary cataract by two needles introduced from opposite sides.

1891.  Cent. Dict., Two-needle operation.

1833.  Hooker, in Smith, Eng. Flora, V. I. 85. Leaves … *two-nerved at the base.

1899.  Doyle, Duet, Ded. The little *two-oared boats.

1838.  Dickens, O. Twist, xxiii. A *two-ounce tin tea-caddy.

1901.  Edin. Rev., Oct., 506. It is … premature to suppose … that the *two-party system has … broken up.

1861.  Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Choeph., 1026, note. A mysterious light was often seen on *two-peaked hill of Parnassus.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Two-petalled corolla. Dipetala.

1909.  Cent. Dict. Suppl., *Two-phase circuit … Two-phase generator … Two-phase system.

1856.  Tull, quoted in Farmer’s Mag., XI. Jan., 20/2. *Two-plowed furrows (that is, one plowed under another) are as much more advantageous for the nourishing a crop.

1847.  Webster, *Two-ply … double; consisting of two thicknesses, as cloth.

1552.  Huloet, *Two pounde weight, dipondium.

1887.  Roy. Proclam., in Standard, 18 May, 3/2. Every Two Pound Piece should have the same obverse and reverse impression … as the Five Pound Piece.

1771.  trans. Pernety’s Voy. Malouine Isl., in Ann. Reg. (1771), II. 15/1. Round stones, of the size of a *two-pounder ball.

1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Dancing Acad. Mr. Augustus Cooper had ordered a new coat … a *two-pound-tenner.

1825.  T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn), 104. *Two-pronged forks.

1727.  Fam. Dict., s.v. Fryars Balsam, Put … into a *Two-quart-Bottle.

1844.  Port Phillip Patriot, 25 July, 3/6. A *two rail fence.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., s.v. Distichus.… A distich or *two-ranked stem or stalk.

1857.  T. Moore, Handbk. Brit. Ferns (ed. 3), 38. Fructification forming two-ranked simple spikes.

1897.  Hughes, Medit. Malta, etc., Fever, ii. 62. The staff-sergeant … occupied a *two-room quarter.

1897.  Daily News, 14 April, 5/1. A *two-roomed home.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 251. The Strength of *Two-Row Hedges when Pleached.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., Two-ranked or *Two-rowed.

1812.  Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 247. Two-rowed barley.

1868.  Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 249. Two-rowed hedges.

1793.  Martyn, Lang. Bot., *Two-seeded fruit.

1621.  G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., VIII. (1626), 156. *Two-shankt Compasses.

1756.  P. Browne, Jamaica, 328. The larger Passion-flower with two-shanked leaves.

1613.  Heywood, Silver Age, III. Wks. 1874, III. 143. The *two-shap’t Centaurs.

1717.  Addison, trans. Ovid, II. Coronis, 29. The *two-shap’d Ericthonius.

1880.  Sat. Rev., 2 Oct., 424/1. Our *two-shilling dinner.

1882.  A. Somerville, in G. Smith, Mod. Apostle, x. (1891), 240. Some *two-shilling pieces.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Bloody Bro., IV. ii. Wholsom *two-sous’d petitoes.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Two-speed Pulley, a variable speed arrangement consisting of two fast pulleys, the shaft of one being tubular and sleeved upon that of the other.

1888.  Encycl. Brit., XXIII. 560. Two-speed gears.

1785.  Pennant, Arct. Zool., II. Suppl. 132. Stickleback. *Two-spined.

1803.  Shaw, Gen. Zool., IV. 476. Two-spined Sparus. Ibid., 608. Two-spined Stickleback.

1802.  Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), III. 130. The seven-spotted and *two-spotted lady-bug.

1859.  W. Collins, Q. of Hearts, I. 242. A *two-stall stable.

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1829. A *two-stalled stable.

1884.  Leisure Hour, Aug., 505/2. Of modern racing schooners … the fastest *two-sticker ever designed.

1878.  Smiles, Robt. Dick, ii. 9. A *two-storied … house.

1880.  J. Dunbar, Pract. Papermaker, 9. A *two-storey building.

1776.  Burney, Hist. Mus., I. 206. This dichord, or *two-stringed instrument.

1855.  Bain, Senses & Int., I. ii. § 21 (1864), 59. The *two-stroke movement of the lungs.

1900.  Engineering Mag., XIX. 788/1. Two-Stroke Oil Engines.

1891.  S. Mostyn, Curatica, 47. Peace be to his manes—this, dear ladies, is a *two-syllable word.

1601.  Holland, Pliny, XVIII. vi. I. 557. If it be stonie, it would be digged with a mattocke or *two tined forkes.

1781.  Pennant, Hist. Quad., II. 496. *Two-toed S[loth] with a round head.

1872.  Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 49. The two-toed birds.

1802.  R. Hall, Elem. Bot., 192. *Two-toothed, bidentatus.

1828.  Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., II. 57. Shell fusiform,… aperture two-toothed.

1616.  Chapman, Homer’s Hymne to Apollo, 47. Their farr-stretcht valleys, and their *two-topt Hill.

1636.  T. Heywood, in Ann. Dubrensia (1877), 69. Two-top’t Pernassus.

1902.  J. Torrance, Story Marātha Missions, vii. 62. The two-topped hill of Sitabaldi.

1649.  Milton, Eikon., xxvii. To whip us with his *two-twisted Scorpions, both temporal and spiritual Tyranny.

1676.  Hobbes, Iliad, 375. A high *two-valved door.

1771.  Phil. Trans., LXI. 232. Two valved shells.

1889.  Science-Gossip, XXV. 219. Fruit,… two-valved, dehiscing longitudinally.

1800.  Hull Advertiser, 19 July, 2/4. A new *two-wheel cart barrow.

1663.  Butler, Hud., I. II. 328. A *two-wheel’d Chariot.

1733.  Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xxi. 300. A common Two-Wheel’d-Plow.

1886.  C. E. Pascoe, Lond. of To-day, xliii. (ed. 3), 376. Two-wheeled cabs.

1861.  Eng. Wom. Dom. Mag., III. 44. What they call a ‘gig’ in those parts—a tall *two-wheeler.

1753.  Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Ox-fly,… a species of *two-winged fly.

  2.  Special Combinations: two-bill, = TWIBILL; † two-blade(s = TWAYBLADE; two-blocks adv. = block and block (BLOCK sb. 5 b), chock-a-block (CROCK adv. c); two-bottle a., applied to one who can drink two bottles of wine at a sitting; two-clang, Acoustics [CLANG sb. 3], a compound tone consisting of two simple tones; two-coat a., requiring two coats, as work in plastering and painting; two-cycle a., completing a series of operations in two cycles or strokes, as a gas-engine; two-eared a., having two ears; two-handled; two-ended a., having two ends (spec. with different properties, as a magnet); hence two-endedness; two-eyed a., having two eyes; involving or adapted for the use of both eyes; two-eyes (U.S. local) = twinberry (see TWIN C.), from the two calyx-marks on the fruit (Cent. Dict., 1891); two-field a., denoting a system of agriculture in which two fields are cropped and fallowed alternately; two-finger, one of a tribe in Surinam with deficient hands and feet (see quot.); two-fisted a. (dial. or colloq.), awkward with the hands, clumsy, or using both hands; two-for-his-heels, used jocularly for ‘knave’ (in allusion to the expression for the dealer’s score on turning up a knave at cribbage: see HEEL sb.¹ 1 d); two-forty, U.S. colloq., an expression for a high speed (properly, at the rate of a mile in 2 min. 40 sec., formerly a ‘record’ pace for trotting); two-four (usually ²₄), Mus., denoting a ‘time’ or rhythm with two crotchets in a bar; two-furrow a., adapted for plowing two furrows at once; two-group, a group of two, e.g., of two sound-units, as syllables forming an iamb or trochee; so two-grouping; two-hearted a., double-hearted, deceitful; two-heeled a., having two heels; in quot., two-edged (cf. HEEL sb.¹ 7 b); two-high a., having two rolls one over another, as a rolling-mill (cf. three-high s.v., THREE B. III. 2); two-horse a., drawn or worked by, or used with, two horses; two-knot a., running two knots (see KNOT sb.¹ 3); two-line, two-lined adjs., in Printing, extending through two lines, as a large capital letter; two-lipped a., having two lips; esp. in Bot. of a corolla, calyx, etc.; bilabiate; two-lofted (Sc. twa-) a., two-storied; two-meal a., (a) of cheese: see quots. (cf. MEAL sb.² 3 a); (b) of or involving two meals a day; two-monthly a., occurring every two months; see also quot. 1867; two-oar, a two-oared boat; two-pair a. (in full, two-pair-of-stairs), situated above two ‘pairs’ or flights of stairs, i.e., on the second floor; also ellipt. as sb. (scil. room); † two-plait (two plette), a double plait; two-rhythm, duple rhythm; † two-sea’d a., situated between two seas (tr. L. bimaris); † two-shafted a., of cloth, woven with two web-shafts (see SHAFT sb.² 9, and cf. THREE-shafted); two-shear, a. of a sheep, that has been shorn twice; sb. a two-shear sheep; also, the time or age of the second shearing; Two-shoes, nickname of the girl heroine of the History of Little Goody Two-Shoes; hence, a quasi-proper name for a child; two-step, a round dance characterized by sliding steps in duple rhythm; also, the music for such dance; also attrib.; two-teeth, -tooth, a., applied to sheep of from one to two years old: having two full-grown permanent teeth, double-toothed; also as sb.; two-throw a., having two throws, as a crank (see THROW sb.² 2); two-tongued a., having two tongues; fig. double-tongued, deceitful; two-water a., Naut., diluted with twice its bulk of water; two-year a. = TWO-YEAR-OLD; two-yearer, (a) a voyage lasting two years; (b) a pupil who has been at (Harrow) school two years; † two-yearing a., of a beast, two years old; two-yearling, a beast of two years old; also attrib.

1619.  S. Atkinson, Gold Mynes Scotl. (Bann. Cl.), 1. To digg the next ground under that sodd … with a mattocke, picke, or *towbill.

1714.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5228/4. Henry Bray … did give … Edward Hurly … a mortal Wound on the Head with a Two-Bill.

1807.  Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 127. The grubbing of roots is generally performed with the two-bill, or double-bitted mattock.

1888.  Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Two-bill, a double-ended mattock. Sometimes both ends are alike.

1605.  Timme, Quersit., III. 177. Take of the rootes of angelica,… of bifolium or *two-blades.

1728.  Bradley, Dict. Bot., Ophris, sive Bifolium,… Twyblade and Twablade.

1828.  Craven Gloss., Twa-blade, a plant with two leaves. Ophrys ovata.

1841.  Dana, Seaman’s Man., 99. Chock-a-block. When the lower block of a tackle is run close up to the upper one, so that you can hoist no higher…. Also called hoisting up *two-blocks.

1855.  Thackeray, Newcomes, lix. This *two-bottle Mentor.

1874.  L. Stephen, Hours in Library (1876), II. 163. The two-bottle men who lingered till our day were … relics of the type which then gave the tone to society.

1894.  Creighton & Titchener, trans. Wundt’s Hum. & Anim. Psychol., v. § 2. 69. Similar simple periods are found to recur in the other harmonious *two-clangs [Ger. Zweiklängen].

1833.  Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 936. All the ceilings … are to be finished with fine *two-coat plasterwork.

1847.  Smeaton, Builder’s Man., 127. Lath, laid and set,… in plastering, signifying two-coat work.

1903.  Motor. Ann., 273. He suggests the *two-cycle engine without valves as the most economical motor.

1520.  MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb. A *ij ered basket.

1685.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2068/4. One Tea Pot, one Silver Tankard wrought, one two Ear’d Pot. Ibid. (1704), No. 3984/4. A … Two-ear’d Cup.

1863.  Tyndall, Heat, xv. § 755 (1870), 522. The polarity of a magnet consists in its *two-endedness.

1864.  Reader, 19 Nov., 642/1. ‘A *Two-eyed Steak,’… a Yarmouth bloater.

1876.  Stewart & Tait, Unseen Univ., 21. Another class who regard a two-eyed man as a monster.

1892.  Greener, Breech-Loader, 92. The sportsman may … dispense with shooting correctors, two-eyed sights, et id genus.

1907.  M. C. F. Morris, Nunburnholme, 250–1. The *two-field or three-field shift system would each have its own details of working.

1796.  Stedman, Surinam, II. xxvi. 255. The Accorees, or *Two-fingers, live amongst the Seramaca negroes.

1820.  Long-Island Star, 25 Oct., 1/5. An overgrown, red-faced *two fisted fellow driving the goose-quill.

1859.  Geo. Eliot, A. Bede, vi. As poor a two-fisted thing as ever I saw, you know you was.

1862.  Cleveland Daily Leader, 23 July, 3/1. The tickets read, ‘good for one drunk.’ A number of two-fisted drinkers, who had got hold of some of the tickets, have been indulging in a series of drunks ever since, greatly to the pecuniary loss of the ‘salooner.’

1878.  Mrs. Stowe, Poganuc P., vi. A stout, two-fisted farmer.

1837.  Dickens, Pickw., xxvii. I am ashamed o’ you, old *two-for-his-heels.

1889.  Farmer, Americanisms, Two-forty. To go at *two forty, or at two forty pace, is to proceed at a high rate of speed. The allusion is to the record pace at trotting matches, at one time a mile in two minutes forty seconds being considered very good.

1896.  G. Huntington, in Chicago Advance, 26 March, 450/3. Now, get a two forty move on you, nags!

1848.  Rimbault, First Bk. Piano., 95. Where does the Accent fall in *Two-four Time?

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 8. The double or *two-furrow plough.

1901.  C. R. Squire, in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol., July–Oct., 535. The *two-group is psychologically simpler than the three-group. Ibid., 536. The natural tendency to a *two-grouping.

1654.  A. Gray, Serm. (1755), 80. Many of us would be found *two-hearted men.

a. 1610.  Healey, Theophrastus (1636), 88. His *two-heel’d sword.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., s.v. Rolling-mill Train, *Two-high grooved rolls.

1798.  R. Douglas, Agric. Surv. Roxb., 50. The plough is drawn by a strong stretcher, commonly called a *two-horse-tree.

1799.  J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 525. Two-horse ploughs.

1812.  Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 58. A two-horse cart.

1900.  Kropotkin, Mem. Revolutionist (1906), I. i. 4. Two-horse sledges.

1922.  Tampa Times, 24 April, 4/6. Six cars stolen in one day. That’s going some, even for a two-horse town.

1889.  Westgarth, Austral. Progress, 124. A *two-knot northerly current inshore.

1771.  Luckombe, Hist. Print., 30. He used *two-line letters of a Gothic kind.

1892.  A. Oldfield, Man. Typogr., iv. Chapter Headings are usually set in a two-line titling.

1683.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxii. ¶ 5. He begins his Chapter … with a *Two-lin’d Letter.

1787.  Fam. Plants, I. 4. Nectary … *two-lip’d.

1808.  Med. Jrnl., XIX. 75. G[enista] tinctoria.… Cal[yx] two-lipped.

1853.  Miss Pratt, Wild Flowers, II. 18. They have … square stems, opposite leaves and two-lipped blossoms.

1818.  Scott, Br. Lamm., xxiv. Folk are far frae respecting me as they wad do if I lived in a *twa-lofted sclated house.

1784.  J. Twamley, Dairying Exempl., 57. What is generally known by the name of *Two-meal Cheese,… being made from one meal New Milk and one of old, or skimmed Milk.

1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 1011. Where two milkings are blended, or two-meal cheese made.

1901.  Daily Chron., 3 Sept., 7/4. The generality of the two-meal system in hot countries.

1811.  Regul. & Ord. Army, 95. The Monthly Settlement in the Infantry and the *Two-Monthly Settlement in the Cavalry … have been duly made by the Captains.

1867.  Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Two-monthly book, a book kept by the captain’s clerk, to be forwarded every two months, when possible.

1857.  Mrq. Dalhousie, in Life (1895), 203. Lots of eighteen-penny *two-oars.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, XIV. iv. Nightingale should procure him either the ground-floor, or the *two pair of stairs.

1755.  Kidgell, Card, II. 179. The very two-pair-of-stairs Apartment.

1836.  Dickens, Sk. Boz, Our Parish, i. I rents a two-pair back, gentlemen.

1840.  Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, vii. There was a light in the garret, and another in the two-pair front. Ibid. (1841), Gt. Hoggarty Diamond, ii. We occupied a very genteel two-pair.

1641.  Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 148. Bandes … made of the smallest haver-strawe,… first well twined, and after that twined togeather again, after the manner of a *two plette.

1901.  C. R. Squire, in Amer. Jrnl. Psychol., July–Oct., 536. Others explain this preference for the *two-rhythm as due to its accordance with the bodily rhythms, the expiration and inspiration of respiration, the diastole and systole of the heart [etc.].

1621.  G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., VI. (1626), 118. With all that *two-sead Isthmos Streights include.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 497/2. *Toschappyd clothe (S. tooschaptyd cloth), bilix.

1788.  W. Marshall, Yorks., II. 260. The wedders will fat at *two sheer (that is, two to three years old) to thirty pounds a quarter.

c. 1830.  Glouc. Farm Rep., 16, in Libr. Usef Knowl., Husb., III. The two-shear, or four-teeth ewes.

1898.  Speaker, 5 Feb., 181. [The lamb] attained to the dignity of a two-shear.

1766.  Hist. Goody Two-Shoes, I. iii. The Pleasure she took in her two Shoes … by that Means [she] obtained the Name of Goody *Two-Shoes.

1870.  Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Dom. Life, Wks. (Bohn), III. 43. What a holiday is the first snow in which Twoshoes can be trusted abroad.

1900.  in Westm. Gaz., 12 April, 2/3. The best dancer is the best man. She falls in love with him to the tune of a sighing waltz. She marries him to the tune of a *two-step.

1909.  Daily Chron., 27 Jan., 7/4. The most popular steps are the two-step, waltz, schottische, three-step, and glide waltz.

1778.  Lett. & Pap. Agric. to Soc. at Bath, I. 42. The sheep most subject to it [the disease goggles] are *two teeth.

c. 1830.  Glouc. Farm Rep., 16, in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb., III. The young or two-teeth ewes.

1875.  Knight, Dict. Mech., *Two-throw Crank.

1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XXIII. 162. Here syre was a sysour þat neuere swor treuthe, On tomme *two-tounged.

1636.  G. Sandys, Paraphr. Ps. xxvi. 35. I hate the two-tongu’d Hypocrite.

1815.  Malcolm, Sk. Persia (1828), II. 156. ‘The fiery steed of the two-tongued pen’ [a split reed] is allowed to run wild.

1776.  Carlisle Mag., 13 July, 22. It [the goggles] generally … attacks the younger sheep, more particularly the *two tooths.

1905.  *Two-water … grog [see three-water s.v. THREE B. III. 2].

1596–7.  Durham Wills (Surtees), II. 268. iiij *two-yere cattell.

1894.  Doyle, Mem. S. Holmes, 81. I’m just off a *two-yearer in an eight-knot tramp.

1899.  Tit-Bits, 1 July, 276/3. A ‘three-yearer’ may … be recognised by his stand-up collar and his tie-pin,… which an unfavored ‘two yearer’ may look and long for.

1600.  in W. F. Shaw, Mem. Eastry (1876), 226. Item vij kine iij *towyearing beasts and four twelve monthings.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 43 b. My young breede, Yeerelinges, and *Twoyeerelinges.

1884.  W. Sussex Gaz., 25 Sept. 10 good two-yearling wellbred Steers.