twine-holder 
twine-holder (twin 'hoi ''der), . A case, usually 
of metal or wire, for holding a ball of twine in 
a convenient position for unwinding. 
twine-machine (twin'ma-shen"), n. A spin- 
ning-machine for making small cord or string. 
It is a form of the thread-machine. E. 11. 
Knight. 
twiner (twi'ner), it. [< ticine 1 + -er 1 .] One 
who or that which twines. Specifically (a) A ma- 
chine for twining threads or fibers, as in cotton-spin- 
ning. 
Mules and Turners for Spinning Cotton, etc. 
The Engineer, LXVI. 231. 
(b) A plant which supports itself by twining. 
Some plants twine with the sun and some twine against 
it ; and most twiners have nearly allied species that do not 
climb at all. Princeton lieu., March, 1878, p. 288. 
twine-reeler (twlu're"ler), . A kind of mule 
or spinning-machine for making twine or twist- 
ing string ; a mule-doubler. 
twin-flower (twin'flou"er), n. In bot., a slen- 
der creeping and trailing evergreen, Linnsea 
borealis, with rounded leaves and thread-like 
Flowering Plant of Twin-flower (Linnma tortalis). 
branches leafy below, forking near the summit, 
and bearing a pair of nodding fragrant flowers. 
The corolla is funnelform, purplish rose-colored or whit- 
ish, under half an inch long. The plant is found in cool 
woods and bogs northward in both hemispheres, in Amer- 
ica extending south to the mountains of Maryland and of 
Colorado and to the Sierra Nevada, from these points reach- 
ing within the arctic circle. This modest but extremely 
beautiful plant was a favorite of Linneeus, who first point- 
ed out its characters and to whom it was dedicated. 
Beds of purple twin-flower. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 14. 
twinge (twinj), v. ; pret. and pp. twinged, ppr. 
twinging, [(a) < ME. twingen, appar. altered 
from *tkwingen,< AS. 'thwingan (pret. 'tliwang) 
= OS. thwingan = OFries. dwinga, twinga = 
MD. dwinghen, D. dwingen = OHG. dwingan, 
thwingan, press, constrain, oppress, conquer, 
MHG. twingen, dwingen, G. zwingen = Icel. 
thvinga, weigh down, oppress, compel, = Dan. 
tvinge = Sw. tvinga, constrain, (b) < ME. twen- 
gen = MD. dwenghen = OHG. zwengan, dwengan, 
MHG. twengen, G. zwangen, press, constrain, a 
secondary verb (associated with the noun, OHG. 
zwang, dwang, gidwang, MHG. zwanc, twanc, G. 
zwang, constraint, compulsion), from the orig. 
strong verb above. Cf. thong, from the same 
ult. source.] I. trans. If. To' press; constrain; 
oppress; afflict. 
And wharfore murned in I go, 
Whil that twinges me the fo? 
Anglo-Saxon and Early Eng. Psalter (ed. Stevenson, 1843X 
[xli. 10. 
2. To pull with a sharp, pinching jerk ; tweak ; 
twitch. 
He tuengde & schok hire [the Devil] hi the nose that the 
fur [fire] out-blaste. 
Jtob. of Gloucester, St. Dunstan, 1. 81. (Morris and Skeat 
[II. 22.) ' 
Twinge three or four buttons 
From off my lady's gown. B. Jonson, New Inn, i. 1. 
When a man is past his sense, 
There 's no way to reduce him thence 
But twinging him by th' ears and nose, 
Or laying on of heavy blows. 
S. Butler, Hudibras, III. i. 1155. 
3. To torment with sharp, darting pains ; sting: 
said of physical or mental pain. 
The gnat charged into the nostrils of the lion, and there 
twinged him till he made him tear himself, and so mas- 
tered him. si r R L'Estrange. 
The poor wretch has a little shrivelled bit of conscience 
left It twinges him sometimes, like a dying nerve in a 
rotten tooth. T. Winthrop, Cecil Dreeme, v. 
II. intruiis. To have a sharp, jerking pain, 
like a twitch ; suffer a keen, shooting pain. 
I've a twinging knee 
Oft hinders dancing. 
George Eliot, Spanish Gypsy, i. 
twinge (twinj), . [< twinge, r.] 1. A nipping 
or pinching ; a twitch ; a tweak. 
6554 
How can you fawn upon a master that gives you so many 
blows and tuwgei by the ears? Sir Ji. L'Estrange. 
2. A sharp, darting pain of momentary con- 
tinuance; a pang, physical or mental. 
The wickedness of this old villain startles me, and gives 
me a twinge for my own sin, tho' it come far short of his. 
Dryden, Spanish Friar, iv. 1. 
" What is it, my dear child? "cries kind Mrs. Lambert, 
as he started. " Nothing, Madam ; a twinge in my shoul- 
der," said the lad. Thackeray, Virginians, xxii. 
= Syn. 2. See paini and agony. 
twingle-twanglet (twing'gl-twang'gl), n. [A 
varied redupl. of twangle.J A twangling sound ; 
a jangle. 
With the rare discord of bells^ pipes, and tabors, 
Hotch-potch of Scotch and Irish tiringle-ticangles. 
Ford, Perkin Wai-beck, iii. 2. 
twining (twl'ning),j. a. Twisting; winding; 
coiling ; embra- 
cing. - Twining 
stem, in bat., a stem 
which ascends spiral- 
ly around another 
stem, a branch, or a 
prop, either to the 
right or to the left. 
See right-handed, 3. 
twiningly (twi'- 
ning-li), adv. In 
a twining man- 
ner; by twining. 
Bailey, 1731. 
twink 1 (twins 
v. i. [< ' 
twinken, twynken, Twining S[emb . 
< AS. *twincan i. Hedge-bindweed. Convolvulus If a- 
(= MHG. zwinken, ly ^fj^ *'*""">' * Ha - Humuius LU- 
zwingen), wink. 
Hence twinkle.'} To wink. [Obsolete or prov. 
Eng.] 
Twynkyn, with the eye. . . . Conquinisco. 
Prompt. Pare., p. 505. 
Some turne the whites up, some looke to the foote, 
Some winke. some twinke, some blinke, some stare as fast. 
Lane, Tom Tel-Troths Message (1600). (Nares.) 
twink 1 (twingk), n. [< ttoinkl, v.~\ A wink; a 
twinkling. 
But in a twinck methought 
'A chang'd at once his habit and his steed. 
Peele, Honour of the Garter. 
twink 2 (twingk), v. t. [Imitative ; cf. tinkl and 
twank.] To pour out in bird-notes; twitter; 
chirp. 
As a swallow in the air doth sing 
With no continued tune, but, pausing still, 
Twinki out her scatter'd voice in accents shrill. 
Chapman, Odyssey, xxi. 548. 
twink 2 (twingk), . [Cf. ticinW, v., also pink, 
spink, finch, etc.] The chaffinch. 
twinleaf 
Phcebe took leave of the desolate couple, and passed 
through the shop, twinkling her eyelids to shake off a dew- 
drop. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiv. 
The bats whirled . . . their wings and twinkled their 
small eyes. Disraeli, Alroy, x. 17. 
2. To emit in quick gleams ; flash out. 
The sun and moon also Thou mad'st to give him light; 
And each one of the wandring stars to twinkle sparkles 
bright. Surrey, Paraphrase of Ps. viii. 
3. To influence or charin by sparkling. 
That affectionate light, those diamond things, 
Those eyes, those passions, those supreme pearl springs, 
Shall be my grief, or twinkle me to pleasure. 
Keats, Endymion, iv. 
twinkle (twiug'kl), . [< twinkle, v.] 1. A 
twitching of the eyelid; a blinking; a wink. 
Old David moved from place to place about his ordi- 
nary employments, scarce shewing, unless by ... an oc- 
casional convulsive sigh, or twinkle of the eyelid, that he 
was labouring under the yoke of such bitter affliction. 
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xiv. 
2. A quick, tremulous light ; a glimmer; a spar- 
kle; a flash. 
Glimmers and dies the fire-fly's spark 
Like starry twinkles that momently break 
Through the rifts of the gathering tempest's rack. 
J. B. Drake, Culprit Fay. 
3. The time required for a wink; a twinkling. 
twinkler (twing'kler), n. [< ME. tieyiirlere (= 
MHG. zivinkeler) ; < twinkle + -er 1 .] One who 
or that which twinkles. Specifically (a) A winker ; 
a blinker ; especially, the eye. 
The twynclere with the eje forgeth wicke thingus. 
Wyclif, Ecclus. xxvii. 25. 
You'll just be pleased . . . not to be staring at me, fol- 
lowing me up and down with those turinklers of yours. 
Marryatt, Snarleyyow, I. vii. 
(b) That which glimmers, sparkles, or flashes ; a sparkler. 
Aram. The stars have done this. 
Clar. The pretty little tteintUn. 
Vanbrugh, Confederacy, iii. 2. 
Such tiny twinklers as the planet-orbs 
That there attendant on the solar power 
With borrowed light pursued their narrower way. 
Shelley, Queen Mab, ix. 
twinkling (twing'kling), n. [< ME. twinkling, 
twinkelinge; verbal n. of twinkle, v.] 1. The act 
of one who or that which twinkles; especially, 
a quick twitching or fluttering movement of 
the eye ; a wink. 
Boys in their first bloom, skilled in the dance, . . . 
smote the good floor with their feet. And Odysseus gazed 
at the twinklings of the feet, and marvelled in spirit. 
Butcher and Lang, tr. of Homer's Odyssey, viii. (ed. Mac- 
[millan, 1881, p. 123). 
2. The phenomenon of scintillation of the fixed 
stars, consisting of fluctuations of light and of 
color at the rate of from fifty to a hundred per 
second . The fluctuations of light did not escape the no- 
I. intrans. 1. To shut an eye or the eyes with 
an involuntary twitch or with a quick volun- 
tary and significant action ; blink; wink. 
She hath now twyncled fyrst upon the with wyckede eye. 
Chaucer, Boethius, ii. prose 3. 
I twynkell with the eye. Jeclignette. . . . You twynkell 
with your eye, do you ? I truste you never the better. 
Palsgrave, p. 764. 
The owl fell a moping and twinkling. 
Sir R. L'Estrange. 
2. Of the eyelids, to open and shut with fre- 
quitinvoluntarytwitclies;henc e ,ofanythin g I^M.SSJK^^ 
that moves rapidly, to dart to and fro. a scintillometer, has made extensive o 
Myne eye twynkleth somtyme and I can nat cease it. 
Palsgrave, p. 764. 
No lips so sweet 
That I may worship them ? No eyelids meet 
To twinkle on my bosom? Keats, Endymion, iv. 
The feet of said partner never ceased to twinkle in and 
out from beneath her skirts. 
New York Evening Post, April 25, 1891. 
3. To pass in and out of sight rapidly, as a light ; 
flash at almost insensible intervals ; shine with 
quick, irregular gleams; scintillate ; sparkle, as 
a star. 
All the fixed Tapers 
He made to twinlde with such trembling capers. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4. 
The chiefe Mountaines, them of Pennobscot, the twin- 
kling Mountaine of Acocisco, the great Mountaine of Sas- 
sanow, and the high Mountaine of Massachuset. 
Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 195. 
Here plots of sparkling water tremble bright 
With thousand thousand twinkling points of light. 
Wordsivorth, Evening Walk. 
I see his gray eyes twinkle yet 
At his own jest. 
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter. 
out into a ribbon by an irregular movement of the tele- 
scope, the fluctuations would appear as variations of light 
and color along this ribbon. Charles Dufour, in 1856, pub- 
lished the following generalizations of his observations, 
now known as Dv/our's laws: (1) the pale stars twinkle 
more than the chrome, and the chrome more than the 
ruddy ones ; (2) at different altitudes the twinkling is pro- 
portional to the coefficient of astronomical refraction mul- 
tiplied by the trajectory of the ray ; and (3) the twinkling 
diminishes as the diameter of the star increases. Lorenzo 
Respighi, in 1868, examined the effect of twinkling upon 
the spectra of stars. He found that oblique bands of 
shade pass over the spectrum in different directions 
according as the star is east or west of, the meridian. 
:ial instrument called 
observations concern- 
ing the differences of the rate of twinkling at different 
seasons, under different meteorological conditions, and 
for different stars. It is certain that twinkling is due in 
some way to the entrance and passage of the light in the 
atmosphere, but how is not altogether settled. Twinkling 
is entirely distinct from the "dancing" of stars, which is 
frequent, especially in winter. 
3. The time required for one twinkle or wink, 
as of the eye ; a flash ; hence, a very short time. 
This world in an iges tivynkeUng 
Thou maist distroie, noon may defende. 
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 173. 
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. 
1 Cor. xv. 61, 52. 
Kie. What you do, do in a tirinkling, sir. 
Vol. As soon as may be. 
Beau, and Fl. , Coxcomb, iv. 2. 
He vanish'd frae her sight, 
Wi' the twinkling o 1 an eye. 
Courteous Knight (Child's Ballads, VIII. 277). 
Or in a twinkling of this true blue steel. 
Sir H. Taylor, Philip van Artevelde, II., iii. i. 
In the twinkling of a bedpost. See bedpost. 
twinleaf (twin'ief).H. 
An American herb, Je f- 
TT fersonia diphylla : so named from the pair of 
11. ti-fiiix. 1. loopen and shut rapidly; wink; leaflets into which the blade of the leaf is di- 
vided. See cut on following page. 
