different between twitch vs fit

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Etymology 1

Possibly from Middle English fit (“an adversary of equal power”).

Adjective

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fittest)

1. Suitable, proper.
2. Adapted to a purpose or environment.
3. In good shape; physically well.

4. (Britain, informal, chiefly slang) Sexually attractive; good-looking; fanciable.
5. Prepared; ready.

   • So fit to shoot, she singled forth among her foes who first her quarry's strength should feel.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fit (third-person singular simple present fits, present participle fitting, simple past and past participle fitted or fit)

1. (transitive) To be suitable for.
   • 1918, Richard Dennis Teall Hollister, Speech-making, publ. George Wahr, pg. 81:

     The speaker should be certain that his subject fits the occasion.

2. (transitive) To conform to in size and shape.

3. (intransitive) To be of the right size and shape
   • 2016 February 2, Kate Winslet & al., Jimmy Kimmel Live!

     Even though in a way you let him freeze to death in the water, because the way I see it...
     I agree. Y'know, I think he actually could have fitted on that bit of door.
     There was plenty of room on the raft.
     I know. I know, I know.

4. (transitive, with to) To make conform in size and shape.
   1. (transitive) To tailor; to change to the appropriate size.

5. (transitive) To be in agreement with.
6. (transitive) To adjust.

7. (transitive) To attach, especially when requiring exact positioning or sizing.
8. (transitive) To equip or supply.

9. (transitive) To make ready.
10. (intransitive, archaic) To be seemly.
11. To be proper or becoming.
12. (intransitive) To be in harmony.

Usage notes

• In senses 1 to 6, this is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. The degree to which something fits.

2. Conformity of elements one to another.

3. The part of an object upon which anything fits tightly.
4. (advertising) Measure of how well a particular commercial execution captures the character or values of a brand.

5. (statistics) Goodness of fit.
6. (bridge) The quality of a partnership's combined holding of cards in a suit, particularly of trump.

Usage notes

Usually used in the singular preceded by an indefinite article and an adjective.

Translations

References

• (advertising): The Advertising Research Handbook Charles E. Young, Ideas in Flight, Seattle, Washington, April 2005

Etymology 2

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“song”), or from the sense of fitted to length.

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. (archaic) A section of a poem or ballad.
   • 1771, Samuel Johnson, "Letter to Bennet Langton, Esq. (March 20)," in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), vol 2:

     Dr. Percy has written a long ballad in many fits.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary: fit, fyte n. 1

Etymology 3

Unknown, possibly from Old English fitt (“conflict”).Probably cognate with Italian fitta (“pain, especially sudden and stabbing pain”).See more at Latin f?gere.

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. A seizure or convulsion.

2. (medicine) A sudden and vigorous appearance of a symptom over a short period of time.
3. A sudden outburst of emotion.

   Synonyms: blowout, hissy, tantrum, spell, moment

4. A sudden burst (of an activity).

   Synonyms: flurry, frenzy, paroxysm

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fit (third-person singular simple present fits, present participle fitting, simple past and past participle fitted)

1. (intransitive, medicine) To suffer a fit.
   • 2016, 18 May, Three dogs die and seven more ill after drinking from the same Kent lake amid contamination fears (in The Telegraph)

     A spokesman said: "It is believed they (the dogs) got into the lake and drank from it. They came out and started fitting. Shortly after that three of them died and vets are attempting to resuscitate the other one."

Etymology 4

Verb

fit

1. (African-American Vernacular, dated) Fought.
   • Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho

     Joshua fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down

Anagrams

• ITF, TIF, if't

Azerbaijani

Etymology

Of onomatopoetic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fit]

Noun

fit (definite accusative fiti, plural fitl?r)

1. whistle
2. siren (a device that makes a piercingly loud sound as an alarm or signal, or the sound from such a device)

Declension

Derived terms

• fit çalmaq (“to whistle”)

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?fit/
• Rhymes: -it

Adjective

fit (feminine fita, masculine plural fits, feminine plural fites)

1. fixed (of eyes, regard, etc.)

Noun

fit m (plural fits)

1. target

Chinese

Etymology

Borrowed from English fit.

Pronunciation

Adjective

fit

1. (Cantonese) fit (physically well; in good shape)

Czech

Adjective

fit

1. fit, healthy

Usage notes

• This adjective is indeclinable.

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t

Adjective

fit (comparative fitter, superlative fitst)

1. fit (in good shape)

Inflection

French

Pronunciation

Verb

fit

1. third-person singular past historic of faire

German

Etymology

From English fit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?t/
• Rhymes: -?t

Adjective

fit (comparative fitter, superlative am fittesten)

1. fit (in good physical shape)

Declension

Derived terms

• Fitmacher
• Fitness (rarely Fitheit)

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??t/
• Rhymes: -??t

Noun

fit f (genitive singular fitjar, nominative plural fitjar)

1. (zoology) web, interdigital webbing, a membrane that connects the digits of an animal
2. (knitting) a casting on, casting on

Declension

Related terms

• breiðafit
• fitja
• fuglafit
• fuglsfit
• gullfit
• hundafit
• lykkjufit
• Halldórufit
• silfurfit
• skollafit
• sundfit

Further reading

• A deliberation on the word "fit" on the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum ("Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies")

Latin

Verb

fit

1. third-person singular present passive indicative of faci?
2. third-person singular present active indicative of f??

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From English fit, probably through German fit.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fit/
• Rhymes: -it

Adjective

fit (masculine fitten, neuter fit, comparative méi fit, superlative am fitsten)

1. fit (in good shape)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse fit.

Noun

fit f (definite singular fita or fiti, indefinite plural fitjar or fiter, definite plural fitjane or fitene)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2012; superseded by fet

Old Norse

Noun

fit f (genitive fitjar, plural fitjar)

1. (zoology, anatomy) webbed foot (of swimming birds)
2. (zoology, anatomy) flippers (of a seal)
3. (landform) meadowland on the banks of a lake or river

Declension

References

• fit in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Scots

Etymology 1

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

Noun

fit (plural fits)

1. foot
2. lower end (of a street, river, field etc)

Derived terms

• fitbaw

Verb

fit (third-person singular present fits, present participle fitin, past fitt, past participle fitt)

1. to foot

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronoun

fit

1. Doric form of what

Volapük

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [fit]

Noun

fit (nominative plural fits)

1. (male or female) fish (cold-blooded vertebrate)

Declension

Derived terms

See also