twit

English

Etymology

Originally twite, an aphetism of Middle English atwite.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twɪt/, [tʰw̥ɪt]

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt
• Homophone: TWT

Verb

twit (third-person singular simple present twits, present participle twitting, simple past and past participle twitted)

1. (transitive) To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease.
   • 1590, Shakespeare, History of Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I:

     "Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here
     With ignominious words, though clerkly couch'd,
     As if she had suborned some to swear
     False allegations to o'erthrow his state? " -

   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, Romiero, Act 3, p.55:

     "Nay, do not twit me now with all the freaks,
     And levities, and gambols charged upon me
     By every lean-faced dame that wears a hood."

   • 1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, →ISBN, page 106:

     Mr. Cramer, a policeman, came this morning and twitted me for having let a murderer hoodwink me.

   • 1962 August, “Talking of Trains: Under their hats”, in Modern Railways, page 80:

     Secrecy about B.R. plans for reorganisation and closure of lines and notably some failures to consult with staff representatives concerned with redundancy, are defects with which the railway unions have twitted Dr. Beeching.

   • 2007, Bernard Porter, "Did He Puff his Crimes to Please a Bloodthirsty Readership?", review of Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal, London Review of Books, 5 April, 29:7, p. 10

     H. R. Fox Bourne, secretary of the Aborigines' Protection Society – often twitted for being an ‘armchair critic’ – wrote in a review of one of Stanley's books […]

   • 1671, John Tillotson, “Sermon II. The Folly of Scoffing at Religion. 2 Pet[er] III. 3.”, in The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: […], 8th edition, London: […] T. Goodwin, B[enjamin] Tooke, and J. Pemberton, […]; J. Round […], and J[acob] Tonson] […], published 1720, →OCLC:

     This […] these scoffers twitted the Christian with.

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

     Aesop minds Men of their Errors, without Twitting them for what is Amiss.

2. (transitive, computing) To ignore or killfile (a user on a bulletin board system).
   • 1995, Michelle Jackson, “Debutante/Question about Tori Shirts”, in rec.music.tori-amos (Usenet):

     However, on the Internet BBS's such as Quartz (now dead), Prism, Monsoon, Sunset, ect^[sic], someone pulling that kind of crap is likely to get flamed quite fast and twitted before he/she can breathe.

   • 2002, Chris Hoppman, “FidoNet Feed Needed”, in alt.bbs (Usenet):

     And no, there is no "thought purification program" that can filter out some folks^[sic] obscene ideas that can be expressed w/o written vulgarities. That has to be simply "dealt" with, either by ignoring or twitting the individual that offends habitually.

Translations

To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease

• Bulgarian: упреквам (bg) (uprekvam), натяквам (bg) (natjakvam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 责备 (zh) (zébèi), 嘲笑 (zh) (cháoxiào)

• Finnish: kiusoitella (fi)
• Neapolitan: sfotte
• Romanian: mustra (ro)
• Russian: упрека́ть (ru) (uprekátʹ)
• Welsh: edliw (cy)

Noun

twit (plural twits)

1. A reproach, gibe or taunt.
2. A foolish or annoying person.
   • 1988, Larry Kramer, Just Say No:

     What do you mean, since when did I become such a radical fairy? Since I started knowing twits like you, you twit!

3. A person who twitters, i.e. chatters inanely.

Usage notes

In the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand the word "twit" for a person is usually used in a humorous or affectionate manner.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Derived terms

• twitling

Translations

a reproach, gibe or taunt

• Bulgarian: укор (bg) m (ukor), упрек (bg) m (uprek)
• Russian: упрёк (ru) m (uprjók)
• Welsh: edliw (cy) m

a foolish or annoying person

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 笨蛋 (zh) (bèndàn), 傻瓜 (zh) (shǎguā), 讨厌鬼 (zh)

• Finnish: ääliö (fi), typerys (fi)
• French: (France, colloquial) andouille (fr) m or f, abruti (fr) m, couillon (fr) m, (Quebec, colloquial) twit (fr) m
• Russian: тупи́ца (ru) m (tupíca), дурачок (ru) m (duračok)
• Spanish: gilí m or f

Anagrams

• Witt

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /twit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

Noun

twit m (plural twits)

1. (Quebec, colloquial) twit (foolish person)
2. a tweet (a message on Twitter)

   Synonym: tweet

Related terms

• (Twitter): twitter

Indonesian

Etymology

From English tweet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʷɪt̚/
• Hyphenation: twit

Noun

twit (first-person possessive twitku, second-person possessive twitmu, third-person possessive twitnya)

1. (Internet) Tweet, an entry posted on the microblogging service Twitter.

   Synonyms: cuitan, kicauan

Further reading

• “twit” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

Spanish

Noun

twit m (plural twits)

1. tweet (message on Twitter)

Turkish

Noun

twit (definite accusative twiti, plural twitler)

1. Alternative form of tweet

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	twit
Definite accusative	twiti
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	twit	twitler
Definite accusative	twiti	twitleri
Dative	twite	twitlere
Locative	twitte	twitlerde
Ablative	twitten	twitlerden
Genitive	twitin	twitlerin
Possessive forms Nominative Singular Plural 1st singular twitim twitlerim 2nd singular twitin twitlerin 3rd singular twiti twitleri 1st plural twitimiz twitlerimiz 2nd plural twitiniz twitleriniz 3rd plural twitleri twitleri Definite accusative Singular Plural 1st singular twitimi twitlerimi 2nd singular twitini twitlerini 3rd singular twitini twitlerini 1st plural twitimizi twitlerimizi 2nd plural twitinizi twitlerinizi 3rd plural twitlerini twitlerini Dative Singular Plural 1st singular twitime twitlerime 2nd singular twitine twitlerine 3rd singular twitine twitlerine 1st plural twitimize twitlerimize 2nd plural twitinize twitlerinize 3rd plural twitlerine twitlerine Locative Singular Plural 1st singular twitimde twitlerimde 2nd singular twitinde twitlerinde 3rd singular twitinde twitlerinde 1st plural twitimizde twitlerimizde 2nd plural twitinizde twitlerinizde 3rd plural twitlerinde twitlerinde Ablative Singular Plural 1st singular twitimden twitlerimden 2nd singular twitinden twitlerinden 3rd singular twitinden twitlerinden 1st plural twitimizden twitlerimizden 2nd plural twitinizden twitlerinizden 3rd plural twitlerinden twitlerinden Genitive Singular Plural 1st singular twitimin twitlerimin 2nd singular twitinin twitlerinin 3rd singular twitinin twitlerinin 1st plural twitimizin twitlerimizin 2nd plural twitinizin twitlerinizin 3rd plural twitlerinin twitlerinin