Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
TUTENAG — TWO-TONGUED
TUTENAG, n. The Chinese name of zink. Sometimes the word is used to denote a metallic compound brought from China, called Chinese copper or white copper, consisting of copper, zink and iron.
TUTOR, n. [L. from tuero, to defend.]
1. In the civil law, a guardian; one who has the charge of a child or pupil and his estate.
2. One who has the care of instructing another in various branches or in any branch of human learning. Some gentlemen employ a tutor to teach in their families, others to attend a son in his travels.
3. In universities and colleges, an officer or member of some hall, who has the charge of instructing the students in the sciences and other branches of learning.
In the American colleges, tutors are graduates selected by the governors or trustees, for the instruction of undergraduates of the three first years. They are usually officers of the institution, who have a share, with the president and professors, in the government of the students.
TUTOR, v.t. To teach; to instruct.
1. To treat with authority or severity.
2. To correct.
TUTORAGE, n. In the civil law, guardianship; the charge of a pupil and his estate. In France, tutorage does not expire till the pupil is twenty five years of age.
1. The authority or solemnity of a tutor. [Little used.]
TUTORED, pp. Instructed; corrected; disciplined.
TUTORESS, n. A female tutor; an instructress; a governess.
TUTORING, ppr. Teaching; directing; correcting.
TUTORING, n. The act of instructing; education.
TUTRIX, n. A female guardian.
TUTSAN, n. A plant, park-leaves, of the genus Hypericum.
TUTTI, n. [L. toti.] In Italian music, a direction for all to play in full concert.
TUTTY, n. [Low L. tutia.] An argillaceous ore of zink, found in Persia, formed on cylindric molds into tubular pieces, like the bark of a tree. It is said to be made of a glutinous, argillaceous earth, like clay, which is put into pots, moistened and baked.
TUZ, n. A lock or tuft of hair. [Not in use.]
TWAIN, a. or n. Two.
When old winter splits the rocks in twain.
[Nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque.]
TWAIT, n. A fish.
1. In old writers, wood grubbed up and converted into arable land. [Local.]
TWANG, v.i. To sound with a quick sharp noise; to make the sound of a string which is stretched and suddenly pulled; as the twanging bows.
TWANG, v.t. To make to sound, as by pulling a tense string and letting it go suddenly.
Sound the tough horn, and twang the quivering string.
TWANG, n. A sharp quick sound; as the twang of a bowstring; a twang of the nose.
1. An affected modulation of the voice; a kind of nasal sound.
He has a twang in his discourse.
TWANGLE, v.i. To twang.
TWANGING, ppr. Making a sharp sound.
1. a. Contemptibly noisy.
TWANK, a corruption of twang.
TWAS, a contraction of it was.
TWATTLE, v.i. To prate; to talk much and idly; to gabble; to chatter; as a twattling gossip.
TWATTLE, v.t. To pet; to make much of. [Local.]
TWATTLING, ppr. or a. Prating; gabbling; chattering.
TWATTLING, n. The act of prating; idle talk.
TWAY, for twain, two. [Not in use.]
TWAY-BLADE, TWY-BLADE, n. [tway and blade.] A plant of the genus Ophris; a polypetalous flower, consisting of six dissimilar leaves, of which the five upper ones are so disposed as to represent, in some measure, a helmet, the under one being headed and shaped like a man.
TWEAG, TWEAK, v.t. It is radically the same word as twitch, and of the same signification. To twitch; to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk; as, to tweag or tweak the nose.
TWEAG, n. Distress; a pinching condition. [Not in use.]
TWEEDLE, v.t. To handle lightly; used of awkward fiddling.
TWEEL, v.t. To weave with multiplied leases in the harness, by increasing the number of threads in each split of the reed, and the number of treddles, etc.
TWEEZER-CASE, n. A case for carrying tweezers.
TWEEZERS, n. [This seems to be formed on the root of vise, an instrument for pinching.] Nippers; small pinchers used to pluck out hairs.
TWELFTH, a. The second after the tenth; the ordinal of twelve.
TWELFTH-TIDE, n. [twelfth and tide.] The twelfth day after christmas.
TWELVE, a. twelv. The sum of two and ten; twice six; a dozen. Twelve men compose a petty jury.
TWELVEMONTH, n. twelv’month. [twelve and month.] A year, which consists of twelve calendar months.
I shall laugh at this a twelvemonth hence.
TWELVEPENCE, n. twelv’pence. [twelve and pence.] A shilling.
TWELVEPENNY, a. twelv’penny. Sold for a shilling; worth a shilling; as a twelve-penny gallery.
TWELVESCORE, a. twelv’score. [twelve and score.] Twelve times twenty; two hundred and forty.
TWENTIETH, a. The ordinal of twenty; as the twentieth year.
TWENTY, a. [L. decem.]
1. Twice ten; as twenty men; twenty years.
2. Proverbially, an indefinite number.
Maximilian, upon twenty respects, could not have been the man.
TWIBIL, n. [two and bil.] A kind of mattock, and a halbert.
TWICE, adv. [from two.] Two times.
He twice essay’d to cast his son in gold.
1. Doubly; as twice the sum. He is twice as fortunate as his neighbor.
2. Twice is used in composition; as in twice-told, twice-born, twice-planted, twice-conquered.
TWIDLE, for tweedle. [See Tweedle.]
TWIFALLOW, v.t. [twi, two, and fallow.] To plow a second time land that is fallowed.
TWIFALLOWED, pp. Plowed twice, as summer fallow.
TWIFALLOWING, ppr. Plowing a second time.
TWIFALLOWING, n. The operation of plowing a second time, as fallow land, in preparing it for seed.
TWIFOLD, a. Twofold.
TWIG, n. [L. vigeo, with a prefix.] A small shoot or branch of a tree or other plant, of no definite length or size.
The Britons had boats made of willow twigs, covered on the outside with hides.
TWIGGEN, a. Made of twigs; wicker.
TWIGGY, a. Full of twigs; abounding with shoots.
TWILIGHT, n.
1. The faint light which is reflected upon the earth after sunset and before sunrise; crepuscular light. In latitudes remote from the equator, the twilight is of much longer duration than at and near the equator.
2. Dubious or uncertain view; as the twilight or probability.
TWILIGHT, a. Obscure; imperfectly illuminated; shaded.
O’er the twilight groves and dusky caves.
1. Seen or done by twilight.
TWILL, v.t. To weave in ribs or ridges; to quill. [See Quill.]
TWILT, n. A quilt. [Local.]
TWIN, n.
1. One of two young produced at a birth by an animal that ordinarily brings but one; used mostly in the plural, twins; applied to the young of beasts, as well as to human beings.
2. A sign of the zodiac; Gemini.
3. One very much resembling another.
TWIN, a. Noting one of two born at a birth; as a twin brother or sister.
1. Very much resembling.
2. In botany, swelling out into two protuberances, as an anther or germ.
TWIN, v.i. To be born at the same birth.
1. To bring two at once.
2. To be paired; to be suited. [This verb is little used.]
TWIN, v.t. To separate into two parts.
TWIN-BORN, a. [twin and born.] Born at the same birth.
TWINE, v.t.
1. To twist; to wind, as one thread or cord around another, or as any flexible substance around another, or as any flexible substance around another body; as fine twined linen. Exodus 39:2.
2. To unite closely; to cling to; to embrace.
3. To gird; to wrap closely about.
Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine.
TWINE, v.i. To unite closely, or by interposition of parts.
Friends now fast sworn, who twine in love--
1. To wind; to bend; to make turns.
As rivers, though they bend and twine--
2. To turn round; as, her spindles twine.
TWINE, n. A strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together; used for binding small parcels, and for sewing sails to their bolt-ropes, etc. Twine of a stronger kind is used for nets.
1. A twist; a convolution; as Typhon’s snaky twine.
2. Embrace; act of winding round.
TWINED, pp. Twisted; wound round.
TWINGE, v.t. twinj.
1. To affect with a sharp sudden pain; to torment with pinching or sharp pains.
The gnat twinged the lion till he made him tear himself, and so he mastered him.
2. To pinch; to tweak; to pull with a jerk; as, to twinge one by the ears and nose.
TWINGE, v.t. twinj. to have a sudden, sharp, local pain, like a twitch; to suffer a keen spasmodic or shooting pain; as, the side twinges. [This is the sense in which this word is generally used within the limits of my acquaintance.]
TWINGE, n. twinj. A sudden sharp pain; a darting local pain of momentary continuance; as a twinge in the arm or side.
1. A sharp rebuke of conscience.
2. A pinch; a tweak; as a twinge of the ear.
TWINGING, ppr. Suffering a sharp local pain of short continuance; pinching with a sudden pull.
TWINGING, n. The act of pinching with a sudden twitch; a sudden, sharp, local pain.
TWINING, ppr. Twisting; winding round; uniting closely to; embracing.
1. In botany, ascending spirally around a branch, stem or prop.
TWINK. [See Twinkle.]
TWINKLE, v.i.
1. To sparkle; to flash at intervals; to shine with a tremulous intermitted light, or with a broken quivering light. The fixed stars twinkle; the planets do not.
These stars do not twinkle, when viewed through telescopes that have large apertures.
2. To open and shut the eye by turns; as the twinkling owl.
3. To play irregularly; as, her eyes will twinkle.
TWINKLE, TWINKLING, n. A sparkling; a shining with intermitted light; as the twinkling of the stars.
1. A motion of the eye.
2. A moment; an instant; the time of a wink.
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump--the dead shall be raised incorruptible. 1 Corinthians 15:52.
TWINKLING, ppr. Sparkling.
TWINLING, n. [from twin.] A twin lamb.
TWINNED, a. [from twin.] Produced at one birth, like twins; united.
TWINNER, n. [from twin.] A breeder of twins.
TWINTER, n. [two and winter.] A beast two winters old. [Local.]
TWIRE, v.i. To take short flights; to flutter; to quiver; to twitter. [Not in use.]
TWIRL, v.t. twurl. To move or turn round with rapidity; to whirl round.
See ruddy maids,
Some taught with dextrous hand to twirl the wheel--
TWIRL, v.i. To revolve with velocity; to be whirled round.
TWIRL, n. A rapid circular motion; quick rotation.
1. Twist; convolution.
TWIRLED, pp. Whirled round.
TWIRLING, ppr. Turning with velocity; whirling.
TWIST, v.t.
1. To unite by winding one thread, strand or other flexible substance round another; to form by convolution, or winding separate things round each other; as to twist yarn or thread. So we say, to double and twist.
2. To form into a thread from many fine filaments; as, to twist wool or cotton.
3. To contort; to writhe; as, to twist a thing into a serpentine form.
4. To wreathe; to wind; to encircle.
--Pillars of smoke twisted about with wreaths of flame.
5. To form; to weave; as, to twist a story.
6. To unite by intertexture of parts; as, to twist bays with ivy.
7. To unite; to enter by winding; to insinuate; as, avarice twists itself into all human concerns.
8. To pervert; as, to twist a passage in an author.
9. To turn from a straight line.
TWIST, v.i. To be contorted or united by winding round each other. Some strands will twist more easily than others.
TWIST, n. A cord, thread or any thing flexible, formed by winding strands or separate things round each other.
1. A cord; a string; a single cord.
2. A contortion; a writhe.
3. A little roll of tobacco.
4. Manner of twisting.
5. A twig. [Not in use.]
TWISTED, pp. Formed by winding threads or strands round each other.
TWISTER, n. One that twists.
1. The instrument of twisting.
TWISTING, ppr. Winding different strands or threads round each other; forming into a thread by twisting.
TWIT, v.t. [L. ad, to.] To reproach; to upbraid; as for some previous act. He twitted his friend of falsehood.
With this these scoffers twitted the christians.
Aesop minds men of their errors, without twitting them for what is amiss.
TWITCH, v.t. To pull with a sudden jerk; to pluck with a short, quick motion; to snatch; as, to twitch one by the sleeve; to twitch a thing out of another’s hand; to twitch off clusters of grapes.
TWITCH, n. A pull with a jerk; a short, sudden, quick pull; as a twitch by the sleeve.
1. A short spasmodic contraction of the fibers or muscles; as a twitch in the side; convulsive twitches.
TWITCHED, pp. Pulled with a jerk.
TWITCHER, n. One that twitches.
TWITCH-GRASS, n. Couch grass; a species of grass which it is difficult to exterminate. But qu. is not this word a corruption of quitch-grass, or quick-grass?
TWITCHING, ppr. Pulling with a jerk; suffering short spasmodic contractions.
TWITTED, pp. Upbraided.
TWITTER, v.t.
1. To make a succession of small, tremulous, intermitted noises; as, the swallow twitters.
2. To make the sound of a half suppressed laugh.
TWITTER, n. [from twit.] One who twits or reproaches.
TWITTER, n. A small intermitted noise, as in half suppressed laughter; or the sound of a swallow.
TWITTERING, ppr. Uttering a succession of small interrupted sounds, as in a half suppressed laugh, or as a swallow.
TWITTING, ppr. Upbraiding; reproaching.
TWITTINGLY, adv. With upbraiding.
TWITTLE-TWATTLE, n. Tattle; gabble. [Vulgar.]
TWIXT, a contraction of betwixt, used in poetry.
TWO, a. [L. duo.]
1. One and one. Two similar horses used together, are called a span, or a pair.
2. Two is used in composition; as in two-legged. Man is a two-legged animal.
TWO-CAPSULED, a. Bicapsular.
TWO-CELLED, a. Bilocular.
TWO-CLEFT, a. Bifid.
TWOEDGED, a. Having two edges, or edges on both sides; as a two-edged sword.
TWO-FLOWERED, a. Bearing two flowers at the end, as a peduncle.
TWOFOLD, a. [two and fold.] Two of the same kind, or two different things existing together; as twofold nature; a twofold sense; a twofold argument.
1. Double; as twofold strength or desire.
2. In botany, two and two together, growing form the same place; as twofold leaves.