/twaɪn/
OriginFrom Middle English twyn, twyne, twin, from Old English twīn (“double thread, twist, twine, linen-thread, linen”), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (“thread, twine”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwisnós (“double”), from *dwóh₁ (“two”).
- countable, uncountableA twist; a convolution.
“Not Typhon huge ending in ſnaky twine:”
- countable, uncountableA strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together, and used for various purposes, as for binding small parcels, making nets, and the like; a small cord or string.
“The orioles like to build the framework of twine, and it is marvelous how they will loop this around a twig almost as evenly knotted as if crocheted[…]”
- countable, uncountableThe act of twining or winding round.
“The Colewort's rankness, but with amorous twine / Clasps the tall Elm”
- countable, uncountableIntimate and suggestive dance gyrations.
“1965, Wilson Pickett, Don't Fight It (blues song), BMI Music.
The way you jerk, the way you do the twine / You're too much, baby; I'd like to make you mine …”
- transitiveTo weave together.
- transitiveTo wind, as one thread around another, or as any flexible substance around another body.
“Let me twine
Mine arms about that body […]”
“She was twining her fingers together.”
- transitiveTo wind about; to embrace; to entwine.
““Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,”
The victor cried, “the glorious prize is mine! […]””
- intransitiveTo mutually twist together; to become mutually involved; to intertwine.
“Usually some old crone was squatted on the earth floor, weaving cedar fibre or tatters of old cloth into a mat, her claw-like fingers twining in and out, in and out, among the strands that were fasten”
- intransitiveTo wind; to bend; to make turns; to meander.
“As rivers, though they bend and twine,
Still to the sea their course incline:”
- intransitiveTo ascend in spiral lines about a support; to climb spirally.
- obsoleteTo turn round; to revolve.
“dancers twine midst cedar-fragrant glades”
- obsoleteTo change the direction of.
“For where he turned his sword, or twined his steed,
He slew, or man and beast on earth down laid,”
- obsoleteTo mingle; to mix.
“As lumpes of sugar loose themselues, and twine
Their subtile essence with the soul of wine.”
Formstwines(plural) · twyne(alternative) · twines(present, singular, third-person) · twining(participle, present) · twined(participle, past) · twined(past)