twitter

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: twĭt'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈtwɪtə/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: twĭt'ər, IPA^(key): /ˈtwɪtəɹ/, /ˈtwɪt̬əɹ/,
• Rhymes: -ɪtə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: twit‧ter

Etymology 1

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

Noun

twitter (countable and uncountable, plural twitters)

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

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

2. (uncountable, electronics) Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
   • 1986, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986, IEEE, page 145:

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

3. (countable) A tremulous broken sound.
4. (countable) A slight trembling of the nerves.
5. (countable, informal or British, regional) Chiefly in the form in a twitter: a state of excitement or nervousness; a twit.

Derived terms

• twitter-bone

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 June 12 (date written; published 1751), T[homas] Gray, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, in Designs by Mr. R Bentley, for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London: R Dodsley, , published 1753, →OCLC:

     The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, / The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,

   • 1881, P. Chr. Asbjörnsen [i.e., Peter Christen Asbjørnsen], translated by H. L. Brækstad, Round the Yule Log. Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, →OCLC, page 278:

     The swallows, which had been tempted here in great numbers on account of the quantity of insects to be found in proximity to the wood, and had established themselves in the barn and under the eaves, were gambolling, circling, and twittering fearlessly about in the sunshine.

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.
   • c. 1616–1619 (first performance), John Fletcher, “The Loyal Svbiect”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     Oh, the young handsom wenches, how they twitter'd, / When they but saw me shake my ware, and sing too!

4. To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
5. (obsolete, transitive) To twit; to reproach or upbraid.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC:

     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

   Synonym: tweet

   • 2009 March 2, Michelle Levi, “McCain Criticizes Obama On The Senate Floor”, in CBS News‎, retrieved 2 March 2009:

     In addition to listing specific earmarks he finds the most reprehensible, McCain said he has been twittering the “top ten” most egregious

7. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)(intransitive) To move like a songbird.

   A blue jay twittered by me.

Derived terms

• atwitter
• twitterpated

Translations

Etymology 2

Origin unknown; possibly related to twine, twist, and twirl.

Noun

twitter (plural twitters)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, weaving, archaic) A knot or other defect in a thread or yarn which hinders spinning or weaving; a twit.

Translations

References

French

Alternative forms

• tweeter

Etymology

From English Twitter.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twi.te/

• Audio

  (file)

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