battle-twig

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English[edit]

Noun[edit]

battle-twig (plural battle-twigs)

  1. (UK, dialect) An earwig
    • 1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Spinster's Sweet-Arts”, in Tiresias, and Other Poems, page 111:
      An' the wool of a thistle a-flyin' an' seeädin' tha haäted to see;
      'Twur as bad as a battle-twig 'ere i' my oän blue chaumber to me.
    • 1929 D. H. Lawrence, Up He Goes! (from Pansies) in The Complete Poems, page 553 [1]
      There isn't a damn thing in 'em,
      They're as empty as empty tins;
      they haven't the spunk of a battle-twig,
      an' all they can think of is sins.
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