twank

English

Etymology

Imitative. Compare twang, twangle.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

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Verb

twank (third-person singular simple present twanks, present participle twanking, simple past and past participle twanked)

1. (intransitive, dated) To emit a sharp twanging sound.
2. (transitive, dated) To cause to make a sharp twanging sound.
   • 1711 December 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, December 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 251; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     London has the privilege of disturbing a whole street for an hour together, with the twanking of a brass kettle or frying-pan.

     The spelling has been modernized.

Noun

twank (plural twanks)

1. A sharp, twanging sound.
   • 1847, William Howitt, Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets:

     a twank of the lock behind you

References

• “twank”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.