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twire. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
twire, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
twire in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
twire you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
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.
Verb
twire (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)
- (intransitive) To glance shyly or slyly; look askance; make eyes; leer; peer; pry.
c. 1619–1623, John Fletcher, “Women Pleas’d”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i: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.
- (intransitive) To twinkle; sparkle; wink.
Noun
twire (plural twires)
- A sly glance; a leer.
Etymology 2
From Middle English *twir, *twirn, twern, from Old English *twirn, *tweorn (“twine, thread”), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (“thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwo- (“two”). Doublet of twine.
Noun
twire (plural twires)
- 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
Derived terms
Etymology 3
Perhaps from a dialectal form of *twere, from Middle English *tweren, from Old English þweran (“to stir”) (found in compound āþweran (“to agitate, stir”)), from Proto-Germanic *þweraną (“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)
- (transitive) To twist; twirl.
Etymology 4
Variant of tuyere.
Noun
twire (plural twires)
- (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