different between twitch vs bump

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English twicchen, from Old English *twi??an, from Proto-West Germanic *twikkijan (“to nail, pin, fasten, clasp, pinch”). Cognate with English tweak, Low German twikken, German Low German twicken (“to pinch, pinch off”), zweck?n and gizwickan (> German zwicken (“to pinch”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tw?t??/, [t?w??t??]
• Rhymes: -?t?

Noun

twitch (countable and uncountable, plural twitches)

1. A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.

2. (informal) Action of spotting or seeking out a bird, especially a rare one.
3. (farriery) A stick with a hole in one end through which passes a loop, which can be drawn tightly over the upper lip or an ear of a horse and twisted to keep the animal quiet during minor surgery.

   Synonym: barnacle

   • 1861, John Henry Walsh, The Horse in the Stable and in the Field

     THE TWITCH is a short stick of strong ash, about the size of a mopstick, with a hole pierced near the end, through which is passed a piece of strong but small cord, and tied in a loop large enough to admit the open hand freely.

4. (physiology) A brief, contractile response of a skeletal muscle elicited by a single maximal volley of impulses in the neurons supplying it.
5. (mining) The sudden narrowing almost to nothing of a vein of ore.
6. (birdwatching) A trip taken in order to observe a rare bird.

Derived terms

• nervous twitch
• twitch game

Translations

References

• Twitch in The Free Dictionary (Medicine)

Verb

twitch (third-person singular simple present twitches, present participle twitching, simple past and past participle twitched)

1. (intransitive) To perform a twitch; spasm.

2. (transitive) To cause to twitch; spasm.
   • 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

     Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses...

3. (transitive) To jerk sharply and briefly.

   • Thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear.

4. (obsolete) To exert oneself. [15th-17th c.]
5. (transitive) To spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one.
   • 1995, Quarterly Review of Biology vol. 70 p. 348:

     "The Birdwatchers Handbook ... will be a clear asset to those who 'twitch' in Europe."

   • 2003, Mark Cocker, Birders: Tales of a Tribe [1], ?ISBN, page 52:

     "But the key revelation from twitching that wonderful Iceland Gull on 10 March 1974 wasn't its eroticism. It was the sheer innocence of it."

   • 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent, a Race Against Time [2], ?ISBN, page 119:

     "I hadn't seen John since I went to Adelaide to (unsuccessfully) twitch the '87 Northern Shoveler, when I was a skinny, eighteen- year-old kid. "

Translations

Usage notes

When used of birdwatchers by ignorant outsiders, this term frequently carries a negative connotation.

Derived terms

• atwitch

Etymology 2

alternate of quitch

Noun

twitch (uncountable)

1. couch grass (Elymus repens; a species of grass, often considered as a weed)

Translations

English

Etymology

From Early Modern English bump (“a shock, blow from a collision", also "to make a heavy, hollow sound, boom”), probably of North Germanic origin. Compare Danish bump (“a thump”), Danish bumpe (“to thump”), Old Danish bumpe (“to strike with a clenched fist”). Apparently related to Middle English bumben, bummen (“to make a hollow noise”), Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”), German bummen (“to hum, buzz”), Icelandic bumba (“drum”), probably of imitative origin. More at bum, bumble. Compare also bomb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?mp/
• Rhymes: -?mp

Noun

bump (countable and uncountable, plural bumps)

1. A light blow or jolting collision.
2. The sound of such a collision.
3. A protuberance on a level surface.
4. A swelling on the skin caused by illness or injury.
5. (obsolete) One of the protuberances on the cranium which, in phrenology, are associated with distinct faculties or affections of the mind. Also (dated, metonymically) the faculty itself
   • c.1845 Thomas MacNevin, cited in Charles Gavan Duffy (1896) Young Ireland: A Fragment of Irish History, 1840-45; final revision (London: T.F. Unwin) Vol.II p.100:

     Our task is to elevate the character of the people, raising up, in fact, their bump of self-esteem and suppressing the bumps of servility and fury.

6. (rowing) The point, in a race in which boats are spaced apart at the start, at which a boat begins to overtake the boat ahead.
7. The swollen abdomen of a pregnant woman.
8. (Internet) A post in an Internet forum thread made in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
9. A temporary increase in a quantity, as shown in a graph.

10. (slang) A dose of a drug such as ketamine or cocaine, when snorted recreationally.
11. The noise made by the bittern; a boom.
12. (preceded by definite article) A disco dance in which partners rhythmically bump each other's hips together.
13. In skipping, a single jump over two consecutive turns of the rope.
14. (uncountable) A coarse cotton fabric.
15. A training match for a fighting dog.
16. (snooker, slang) The jaw of either of the middle pockets.
17. (US, slang, uncountable) Music, especially played over speakers at loud volume with strong bass frequency response.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

bump (third-person singular simple present bumps, present participle bumping, simple past and past participle bumped)

1. To knock against or run into with a jolt.
2. To move up or down by a step; displace.

3. (Internet) To post in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.
4. (chemistry, of a superheated liquid) To suddenly boil, causing movement of the vessel and loss of liquid.
5. (transitive) To move (a booked passenger) to a later flight because of earlier delays or cancellations.
   • 2005, Lois Jones, EasyJet: the story of Britain's biggest low-cost airline (page 192)

     Easyjet said the compensation package for passengers bumped off flights was 'probably the most flawed piece of European legislation in recent years' […]

6. (transitive) To move the time of (a scheduled event).
   • 2010, Nancy Conner, Matthew MacDonald, Office 2010: The Missing Manual, p. 332:

     A colleague emails with news that her 4:30 meeting got bumped to 3:30.

7. (transitive) To pick (a lock) with a repeated striking motion that dislodges the pins.
8. (intransitive, archaic) To make a loud, heavy, or hollow noise; to boom.

   • as a bittern bumps within a reed

9. (printing, dated) To spread out material so as to fill any desired number of pages.
10. (slang, transitive) To assassinate; to bump off.
    • 1944, William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman, The Big Sleep (screenplay)

      You know about the night the kid bumped Brody?

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

bump

1. (Internet) Posted in an Internet forum thread in order to raise the thread's profile by returning it to the top of the list of active threads.

Danish

Etymology

Onomatopoeic, compare English bump.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bom?p/, [?b??m?b?]
• Homophone: bomb

Noun

bump n (singular definite bumpet, plural indefinite bump)

1. thud
2. jolt
3. road hump

Inflection

Derived terms

• vejbump
• bumpe

Verb

bump (form)

1. imperative of bumpe

Welsh

Numeral

bump

1. Soft mutation of pump (“five”).

Mutation