twigsome 
twigsome (twig'surn), a. [< t if ig l + -some.] 
Abounding in twigs. [Rare.] 
The twigsome trees by the wayside (which, I suppose, will 
never grow leafy, for they never did). 
Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, vii. 
twilight (twi'lit), 11. and a. [Formerly also 
twylight; < ME. twilight, twyelyghte = LG. twi- 
leclit = G. zwielicht (cf. MHG. sioisehenlieht) ; < 
ttri- + light*.] I. n. 1. The light from the sky 
when the sun is below the horizon at morning 
and evening. It has generally been agreed by observ- 
ers in different countries that this light rises in the morn- 
ing and sets in the evening when the sun is 18 or 19 below 
the horizon. The former depression is given by Ptolemy. 
Gemma Frisius, Magini, Kepler, and Gassendi ; the value 
19 is given by Posidonius and Alhazen. Under some cir- 
cumstances a second twilight appears, separated by an 
interval of darkness from the first. Twilight is certainly 
due to reflection from the upper atmosphere, but the phe- 
nomenon is somewhat complicated by the zodiacal light. 
Twye lyghte, be-fore the day. Diluculum. 
Tu-ye lyghte, a-fore the nyjhte. Crepusculum. 
Prompt. Parv., p. 505. 
Twilight no other thing is, Poets say, 
Then the last part of night, and first of day. 
Herrick, Hesperides, Twilight. 
Now came still evening on, and twilight gray 
Had in her sober livery all things clad. 
Milton, P. L., iv. 598. 
2. Hence, any faint light; partial darkness; 
shade. 
Through many a woodland dun, 
Through buried paths, where sleepy twilight dreams 
The summer time away. Keats, Endymion, ii. 
The oak and birch, with mingled shade, 
At noontide there a twilight made. 
'Scott, L. of the L., iii. 26. 
3. Figuratively, an indistinct medium of per- 
ception; also, a state of faint or hazy mental 
illumination. 
What shall I do? what conduct shall I find 
To lead me through this twy-light of my mind ? 
Buckingham, Rehearsal, iii. 2. 
In the greatest part of our concernment he has afforded 
us only the twilight of probability, suitable to our state of 
mediocrity. Locke. 
We are always inwardly immersed in what Wundt has 
somewhere called the twilight of our general conscious- 
ness. W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 620. 
II. a. 1. Belonging, pertaining, or peculiar 
to twilight; seen by twilight; crepuscular, as 
a bat or moth. 
Nymphs and shepherds . . . 
On old Lycseus, or Cyllene hoar, 
Trip no more in twilight ranks. 
Milton, Arcades, 1. 99. 
When twilight dews are falling soft 
Upon the rosy sea. 
Moore, When Twilight Dews. 
2. Faintly illuminated; shady; dim; obscure: 
either literally or figuratively. 
Some few sparks or flashes of this divine knowledge may 
possibly be driven out by rational consideration ; philoso- 
phy may yield some twilight glimmerings thereof. 
Barrow, Sermons, III. xlv. 
Twilight groves and dusky cares. 
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 163. 
A twilight conscience lighted thro' a chink. 
Tennyson, Harold, iii. 1. 
Twilight curve, the boundary of the earth's shadow, 
which rises in the east after the sun has set and cuts oif 
the twilight glow. Within this arc, which sometimes 
appears very sharply defined, the atmosphere receives no 
direct light from the sun, and reflects only the diffuse light 
that comes from other parts of the sky. As the sun de- 
scends, the arc rises to the zenith and then passes over to 
the western horizon, its arrival at the latter point marking 
the end of twilight. 
twilight (twi'lit), v. t. [< twilight, n. The form 
of the pp. in the second quotation is irregular.] 
To illuminate faintly or dimly. 
The temple's dim cavernous recesses, faintly starred 
with mosaic, and twilighted by twinkling altar-lamps. 
Howetts, Venetian Life, xi. 
He was like some one lying in twilit, formless pre-exis- 
tence. S. L. Stevenson, Will o' the Mill. 
twill 1 (twil), v. t. [Also dial. (Sc.) tweel, twell, 
tweil, tweal; < LG. twillen, make double, also 
fork into branches, as a tree ; cf . LG. twill, twille, 
twehl, a forked branch, any forked thing; D. 
ticeeling = G. twilling = Sw. Dan. tvitting, twin ; 
Sw. dial, tvilla, produce twins (said of sheep); 
OHG. zwilih, zicilihh, MHG. swilich, ewilch, G. 
zwillich, twill (fashioned after L. bilix, having 
two threads) ; with formative -I, < twi-, two : see 
twi-, two, and cf. twin*.] To weave in a par- 
ticular way (see twill*, ,), producing diagonal 
ribs in the stuff. 
At last she stood complete in her silvery twilled silk, her 
lace tucker, her coral necklace, and coral ear-drops. 
George Eliot, Silas Marner, xi. 
twill 1 (twil), . [< twill*, r.] 1. A variety of 
textile fabric in which the weft-threads do not 
pass over and under the warp-threads in regu- 
lar succession, as in common plain weaving, 
6552 
but pass over one and under two, over one and 
under three, or over one and under eight or ten, 
according to the kind of twill. The next weft-thread 
takes a set oblique to the former, throwing up one of the 
two deposed by the preceding. The effect of this is to pro- 
duce the appearance of parallel diagonal lines or ribs over 
the whole surface of the cloth ; but the regularity of the 
parallel lines is broken in various ways in what is termed 
fanciful twilling. The goods so manufactured are strong- 
er than those made by plain weaving. In twilled cloth 
the number of heddles used is equal to the number of 
threads contained in the interval between two intersec- 
tions of the warp and weft, as when every third thread 
is to be interwoven three leaves are used, for six threads 
six leaves, etc. Twills are called, according to the number 
of leaves employed in the weaving, three-leaf twill, six-leaf 
twill, etc. 
Special duties were charged upon Scotch linens called 
twill and ticking, on importation into England. 
S. Dowett, Taxes in England, II. 61. 
2. The raised line made by twilling. 
A right hand twill is said to appear much bolder if the 
thread be twisted to the right hand. 
A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 99. 
Colored twill, a stout cotton material made in all prin- 
cipal colors, and employed for linings of curtains and em- 
broideries. It will not bear washing. French twill. 
See French. Full twills, twilled fabrics of cotton and 
woolen, usually of plain color. Herring-bone twilL See 
herring-bone . Kirriemuir twill, aflne twilled linen 
cloth manufactured in Scotland, and often used as a back- 
ground for embroidery. 
twill 2 (twil), n. [A var. of quill* ; cf. twilt for 
quilt.] A reed ; a quill ; a spool to wind yarn 
on. [Prov. Eng.] 
A Twill ; a Spoole ; from Quill. In the South they call 
it winding of Quills, because anciently, I suppose, they 
wound the Yarn upon Quills for the Weavers, though now 
they use Reeds. Ray, Eng. Words (1691), p. 77. 
twill 2 (twil), v. t. [< twilft, n.] To quill ; trim 
with quilling or fluting. 
The great fat pincushion lined with pink inside, and 
twilled like a lady's nightcap. 
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xvi. 
twill 3 (twil), prep, and cow/. A dialectal vari- 
ant of tilP. 
'twill (twil). A contraction of it will. 
twilled (twild), a. [An uncertain word, used 
only in the following passage. If correctly 
printed in the original, it may be < twill* + 
-ed 2 , meaning 'ridged, terraced,' or, as com- 
mentators say, ' hedged ' ; or < twilft + -ed 2 , 
meaning then 'reeded, reedy.' But it is not 
likely that Shakspere ever used twilfitor quill.] 
See the etymology. 
Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims, 
Which spongy April at thy best betrims. 
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 64. 
twilt (twilt), n. [A var. of quilt, as twill? for 
quill*.] A quilt. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] 
Beds of state, twilts, pands and testers, napery and 
broidered wark. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, xxvi. 
twin 1 (twin), a. and n. [< ME. twin, twyn, 
twinne, twynne, < AS. getwin, double (pi. ge- 
twinnas, twins) (= Icel. tvinnr, tvennr, two and 
two, twin), < twi-, two: see twi~. Cf. twinling, 
See also twine 1 .] I. . If. Two; twain. 
Forr Crist iss bathe Godd & mann, 
an had off twinne kinde. 
Ormulum, 1. 1361 (Morris and Skeat, I. 52). 
A wain thai had thair gere wit-in. 
That draun was wit oxen tuin. 
Cursor Mundi, 1. 278 (Morris and Skeat, II. 78). 
Thou do to gedder x. and ij. 
The laghis [laws] twin sal thon flnde squa [so]. 
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 119. 
2. Consisting of two separate, closely related, 
and equal members ; twofold ; double ; specifi- 
cally, consisting of or forming twins or a pair : 
as, twin children. 
An apple cleft in two is not more twin 
Than these two creatures. Shak., T. N., v. 1. 302. 
Parrots with twin cherries in their beak. 
Cowper, Task, i. 38. 
3. One, each, or either of two ; one of a pair, 
specifically of two born at a birth : as, a twin 
brother or sister. 
The water up. stod, thurgh godes migt, 
On twinne half, also a wal up-rigt. 
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3248. 
A Boat iitt'a-sister of the crescent-moon ! 
Wordsworth, Peter Bell. 
4. In 1>ot., growing in pairs; didymous. 5. 
Consisting of two chief parts alike, or nearly 
alike, and held firmly together: as, a twin bot- 
tle ; a twin vase. The plural is used in the same 
sense: as, twin vases. 6. In entom., geminate : 
applied to spots, punctures, spines, etc., which 
are close together in pairs, and distant from 
others The Twin Brothers or Brethren, Castor and 
Pollux ; the Twins. 
These be the Great Twin Brethren 
To whom the Dorians pray. 
Macaulay, Battle of Lake Regillus, st. 40. 
twin 
Twin boat, a boat having two hulls, or a double hulL 
See twin ttteamer. Twin cones. See cone. Twin crys- 
tal See II., 3. Twin engine. See engine. Twin 
graptolites. See flraptolithidee.Twin ocelli, two 
similar ocellated spots close together and inclosed in a 
common colored ring. Twin-screw, a steam-vessel fit- 
ted with two propellers on separate shafts, one under each 
quarter, having right-handed and left-handed twists re- 
spectively. Being turned in contrary directions in driving 
ahead, they counteract each other's tendencies to produce 
lateral vibration. Also used attributively. 
The Rodney, Admiral Fitzroy's flagship, ... is also in 
the Admiralty list called a "twin-screw cruiser," as from 
her great powers of speed she well may be. 
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLIII. 390. 
Twin steam-engine, an adaptation of the steam-engine 
in which two complete engines are associated to perform 
the same work; a duplex engine. Twin steamer, a 
form of steam-vessel occasionally employed in ferries, 
the deck, etc., being supported on two distinct hulls 
which are placed 
some distance 
asunder, with the 
paddle-wheels be- 
tween them. 
Twin valve, a 
form of valve with 
a double connec- 
tion, used at the 
discharge - orifice Twin Valve, or Double Gate-valve. 
of a pump, and 
serving the double purpose of supplying water to a steam- 
boiler and to a line of hose or pipe. E. H. Knight. 
II. n. If. Two; twain; a pair; a couple. 
The scharp of the schalk schyndered the bones, 
& schrank tnurg the schyire grece, & scade hit in twytuif. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 425. 
Hit is brused, other broken, other byten in twynne. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1047. 
I saw the route in great disdaine 
A twinne of forked trees send forth againe. 
Spenser, Visions of Bellay, 1. 70. 
2. One of two ; one of a pair or couple linked 
together by a particular tie or relation; the 
mate, counterpart, or fellow of another; spe- 
cifically, one of two creatures produced at a 
birth: said of the young both of human beings 
and of beasts. 
He was most princely : ever witness for him 
Those twins of learning that he raised in you, 
Ipswich and Oxford. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 2. 58. 
Time and Place are twinnes and vnseparable compan- 
ions. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 50. 
Two were never found 
Twins at all points. Cowper, Task, iv. 738. 
They see no men, 
Not ev'n her brother Arac, nor the twins 
Her brethren. Tennyson, Princess, i. 
3. A compound crystal one part of which is in 
a reversed position with reference to the other, 
as if it had been revolved through 180 about 
an axis (twinning-axis) perpendicular to a 
plane which is called the twinning-plane, and 
is usually a fundamental plane of the given 
crystal. Thus if (flg. 1) one half of the octahedron as 
indicated is revolved through 180 about a vertical axis, 

i. Octahedron, showing position of twinning-plane. 2. Twinned Octa- 
hedron, the upper half in reversed position. 
the twinned octahedron of fig. 2 results, the twinning- 
plane being here a face of the octahedron ; such twins are 
common with spinel, and are hence called spinel ticins. 
This is also called a juxtaposition- or contact-twin, in dis- 
tinction from a penetration-twin, such as is represented 
in fig. 3, where each crystal is complete and interpene- 
trates the other. If the molecu- 
lar reversal is often repeated in 
the growth of a crystal, a poly- 
synthetic twin may result, consist- 
ing of successive thin layers or 
lamellee of two sets, alternately 
in reversed position to each 
other. This is common among 
the plagioclase feldspars, and is 
the cause of the fine striation 
often observed on a cleavage-sur- 
face. (See albite twin and peridine 
twin, below.) When the angle , 
between the axes of the two parts of the twin crystal is an 
aliquot part of 360, repeated twinning may occur (thus, 
3 x 120, 4 x 90, 5 x 72, etc., complete the form); the 
resulting compound crystal may then imitate (mimetic 
form) a form of higher symmetry than belongs to the sin- 
gle crystal, and hence be a case of pseudosymmetry : for 
example, the twins of aragonite (which has a prismatic 
angle not far from 120) have often the form of a pseudo- 
hexagonal crystal; the six-rayed stellate twins of ceru- 
site give another common example of a repeated twin. 
In some cases the imitation is so perfect that the true 
nature of the form can be determined only by an inves- 
tigation in polarized li^ht. Albite twin, a kind of twin 
common with albite and the other trielinic feldspars, 
where the twinning-plane is the brachydiagonal plane of 
the crystal, and the twinning gives a reentrant angle on 
3. penetration-twin 
(Cubes). 
