different between twire vs twite

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?twa??(?)/

Etymology 1

From Middle English twiren (“to peep out, pry about, twinkle, glance, gleam”), cognate with Middle High German zwieren (“to spy”), Bavarian zwiren, zwieren (“to spy, glance”). Perhaps related to Old English twinclian (“to twinkle”). More at twinkle.

Alternative forms

• tweer

Verb

twire (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)

1. (intransitive) To glance shyly or slyly; look askance; make eyes; leer; peer; pry.

   • I saw the wench that twired and twinkled at thee.

   • c. 1637, Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd

     Which maids will twire at 'tween their fingers.

2. (intransitive) To twinkle; sparkle; wink.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 28:

     When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even.

Noun

twire (plural twires)

1. A sly glance; a leer.

Etymology 2

From Middle English *twir, *twirn, twern, from Old English *twirn, *tweorn (“twine, thread”), from Proto-West Germanic *twi?n (“thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwo- (“two”). Doublet of twine.

Noun

twire (plural twires)

1. A twisted filament; a thread.
   • 1766, John Locke, Observations Upon The Growth And Culture Of Vines And Olives […]

     they put the cocons in hot water, and so stirring them about with a kind of rod, the ends of the silk twires of the cocons stick to it

Etymology 3

Perhaps from a dialectal form of *twere, from Middle English *tweren, from Old English þweran (“to stir”) (found in compound ?þweran (“to agitate, stir”)), from Proto-Germanic *þweran? (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *twer- (“to turn, twirl, swirl, move”). Cognate with Bavarian zweren (“to stir”). Compare twirk, twirl.

Verb

twire (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)

1. (transitive) To twist; twirl.

Etymology 4

Variant of tuyere.

Noun

twire (plural twires)

1. (obsolete) A pipe through which the blast is delivered to the interior of a blast furnace, or to the fire of a forge; a tuyere.

Anagrams

• twier, write

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twa?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Noun

twite (plural twites)

1. A small passerine bird, Linaria flavirostris (syn. Carduelis flavirostris), that breeds in northern Europe and across central Asia.

Synonyms

• (Linaria flavirostris): heather lintie (Scotland, Orkney), mountain linnet

Translations

See also

• linnet

Anagrams

• Witte, tewit