subs. (old).—1. Style, fashion, method. Hence as adj. = stylish, handsome; IN GOOD (or PRIME) TWIG = clever, well-dressed, in good spirits (GROSE). TO PUT OUT OF TWIG = to alter, disguise, so to change as to make unrecognisable (VAUX).
1819. T. MOORE, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress.
| Never since the renown’d days of Brougham and Figg | |
| Was the Fanciful World in such very PRIME TWIG. |
1820. P. EGAN, Jack Randall’s Diary, 62, ‘Randall.’
| In search of lark, or some delicious gig | |
| The mind delights in, when ’tis IN PRIME TWIG. |
2. (Marlborough: obsolete).—The Headmaster [in whose authority rested the use of the birch].
Verb. (old).—1. To watch, observe, mark (GROSE). Also (2) to understand, SEE (q.v.), TUMBLE TO (q.v.). Whence (in humorous imitation of Fr. comprenez-vous) TWIGGEZ-VOUS. See TWUG.
1763. FOOTE, The Mayor of Garratt, ii. 2. Now TWIG him; now mind him; mark how he hawls his muscles about.
1796. J. G. HOLMAN, Abroad and at Home, iii. 2. He TWIGS me. He knows Dicky here.
1835. HOOK, Gilbert Gurney, III. ii. Don’t you TWIG?
1837. DICKENS, Pickwick Papers, xx. ‘They’re a-TWIGGIN’ you, sir,’ whispered Mr. Weiler…. All the four clerks were minutely inspecting the general appearance of the supposed trifler with female hearts.
1840. R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Jackdaw of Rheims.’
| They can’t find THE RING! | |
| And the Abbot declared that, ‘when nobody TWIGG’D it, | |
| Some rascal or other had popp’d in, and prigg’d it!’ |
1845. B. DISRAELI, Sybil; or, The Two Nations, v. 10. ‘I TWIG,’ said Mick.
1853. C. READE, Gold! i. 1. If he is an old hand he will TWIG.
1858. DR. J. BROWN, Spare Hours, 1 S. 306. I TWIGGED at once that he didn’t himself know what it meant.
1872. Figaro, 22 June. A nattier rig you’ll hardly TWIG.
1877. W. H. THOMSON, Five Years’ Penal Servitude, iii. 245. Some feller in the shop TWIGGED my old girl as one he’d a-seen before.
1890. W. JAMES, Principles of Psychology, i. 253. What is that first instantaneous glimpse of some one’s meaning which we have, when in vulgar phrase we say we ‘TWIG’ it?
1896. FARJEON, The Betrayal of John Fordham, III. 284. The job I ’ad to orfer yer wos to pick feathers. A fat pigeon with feathers of gold. Do yer TWIG?
1898. MARSHALL, Pomes, 74. So her clobber, you’ll TWIG, was a second-hand rig.
1900. KIPLING, Stalky & Co., 40. ‘Now jump up, Pussy! Say, “I think I’d better come to life!” Then we all take hands, etc…. TWIGGEZ-VOUS?’ ‘NOUS TWIGGONS.’
1900. PERCY WHITE, The West End, 130. ‘How do you know?’ ‘I TWIGGED it from mother’s manner.’
3. (thieves’).—To snap asunder, break off: e.g., ‘TWIG the darbies’ = knock off the irons.
TO MEASURE A TWIG, verb. phr. (old).—To act absurdly (RAY).
See HOP THE TWIG.
