/ˈtwaɪə(ɹ)/
OriginFrom 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.
- intransitiveTo glance shyly or slyly; look askance; make eyes; leer; peer; pry.
“I saw the wench that twired and twinkled at thee.”
“Which maids will twire at 'tween their fingers.”
- intransitiveTo twinkle; sparkle; wink.
“When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even.”
- transitiveTo twist; twirl.
- A sly glance; a leer.
- A twisted filament; a thread.
“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”
- obsoleteA pipe through which the blast is delivered to the interior of a blast furnace, or to the fire of a forge; a tuyere.
Formstwires(present, singular, third-person) · twiring(participle, present) · twired(participle, past) · twired(past) · tweer(alternative) · twires(plural)