twire

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From 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.

Alternative forms

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Verb

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twire (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)

  1. (intransitive) To glance shyly or slyly; look askance; make eyes; leer; peer; pry.
  2. (intransitive) To twinkle; sparkle; wink.

Noun

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twire (plural twires)

  1. A sly glance; a leer.

Etymology 2

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From Middle English *twir, *twirn, twern, from Old English *twirn, *tweorn (twine, thread), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (thread), from Proto-Indo-European *duwo- (two). Doublet of twine.

Noun

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twire (plural twires)

  1. A twisted filament; a thread.
    • 1766, John Locke, Observations Upon The Growth And Culture Of Vines And Olives [] :
      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
Derived terms
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Etymology 3

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Perhaps from a dialectal form of *twere, from Middle English *tweren, from Old English þweran (to stir) (found in compound āþweran (to agitate, stir)), from Proto-Germanic *þweraną (to stir), from Proto-Indo-European *twer- (to turn, twirl, swirl, move). Cognate with Bavarian zweren (to stir). Compare twirk, twirl.

Verb

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twire (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)

  1. (transitive) To twist; twirl.

Etymology 4

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Variant of tuyere.

Noun

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twire (plural twires)

  1. (obsolete) A pipe through which the blast is delivered to the interior of a blast furnace, or to the fire of a forge; a tuyere.

Anagrams

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