different between twitten vs twitter

English

Alternative forms

• twitchel
• twister (pre Sussex dialect)

Etymology

Corruption of betwixt and between.Alternatively: derived from Low German "twiete" (alley)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?t?n

Noun

twitten (plural twittens)

1. (Sussex) a narrow path between two walls or hedges, especially on hills. For example, small alleyways leading between two buildings to courtyards, streets, or open areas behind.
   • 1892: "A Peep Into the Past": Brighton in the Olden Time, with Glances at the Present by John George Bishop

     Separated from the Brewery by the narrow twitten running into Ship-street was "THE CRICKETERS"

   • 2015 If Then by Matthew De Abaitua

     On her rounds, she preferred to walk around Lewes via the twittens, the steep high-walled alleyways that ran betwixt and between the old buildings of the town.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:alley

References

• Parish, William Douglas. A dictionary of the Sussex dialect and collection of provincialisms in use in the county of Sussex (1875). [1]

English

Etymology

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English twiterian, from Proto-Germanic *twitwiz?n? (“to chirp; twitter”). Cognate with German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”) and Low German twitteren (“to twitter”). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (“to twitter”), Danish kvidre (“to twitter”), Swedish kvittra (“to twitter”), dialectal Swedish tittra (“to twitter”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: tw?t'?r, IPA^(key): /?tw?.t?(?)/
• (General American) enPR: tw?t'?r, IPA^(key): /?tw?.t?/, /?tw?.t??/, [?t?w?.??]
• Rhymes: -?t?(?)

Noun

twitter (countable and uncountable, plural twitters)

1. The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.

   I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.

2. A tremulous broken sound.
3. A slight trembling of the nerves.
4. Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
   • 1986, IEEE, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986 (page 145)

     Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.

Translations

Verb

twitter (third-person singular simple present twitters, present participle twittering, simple past and past participle twittered)

1. (intransitive) To utter a succession of chirps.
   • 1750, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1825, The Works of Thomas Gray, Volume I, page 114,

     The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, / The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,
2. (intransitive, transitive) (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
3. To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Fletcher to this entry?)

4. To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
5. (obsolete, transitive) To twit; to reproach or upbraid.

   • I have repented of it many’s the good time and oft. And if he was so good to forgive me a word spoken in haste or so, it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me. He was a husband to me, he was; and if ever I did make use of an ill word or so in a passion, I never called him rascal […]

6. Alternative form of Twitter

Synonyms

• (internet neologism): tweet

Derived terms

• atwitter

Translations

French

Alternative forms

• tweeter

Etymology

From English Twitter

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twi.te/

Verb

twitter

1. (transitive, intransitive, Internet) to tweet (to post to Twitter)

Conjugation

Related terms

• twit (a tweet (a message on Twitter))
• tweet (a tweet (a message on Twitter))
• twittosphère
• twitteur