twire

English

Etymology 1

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

• tweer

Verb

1. (intransitive) To glance shyly or slyly; look askance; make eyes; leer; peer; pry.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     I saw the wench that twired and twinkled at thee.

   • Ben Jonson

     Which maids will twire 'tween their fingers.

2. (intransitive) To twinkle; sparkle; wink.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 28:

     When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even.

Noun

twire (plural twires)

1. A sly glance; a leer.

Etymology 2

From Middle English *twir, *twirn, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English *twirn, *tweorn (“twine, thread”), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (“thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwo- (“two”). Doublet of twine.

Noun

twire (plural twires)

1. A twisted filament; a thread.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Locke to this entry?)

Etymology 3

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

1. (transitive) To twist; twirl.

Etymology 4

Variant of tuyere.

Noun

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

• twier, write