twitter

See also: Twitter

English

Etymology

Imitating the sound.

Noun

twitter (plural twitters)

1. The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.

   I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.

2. Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
   • 1986, IEEE, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986 (page 145)

     Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.

Translations

sound made by birds

• Finnish: sirkutus, laulu (fi), viserrys
• German: Zwitschern n
• Italian: cinguettio (it) m
• Portuguese: piar (pt)

• Russian: щебет (ru) m (ščébet), щебетание (ru) n (ščebetánije), чириканье (ru) n (čiríkanʹje)
• Scottish Gaelic: ceilear m
• Swedish: kvitter (sv) n

Verb

twitter (third-person singular simple present twitters, present participle twittering, simple past and past participle twittered)

1. (intransitive) To utter a succession of chirps.
   • Gray

     The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed.

2. (intransitive, transitive) (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book VIII, chapter vii

     […] it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me.

   • 2008, Cherie Blair, Speaking for Myself the autobiography:

     "Tony will be so cross," I twittered as we crawled through the traffic. "He'll probably just go."

3. To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Fletcher to this entry?)

4. To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
5. (neologism, Internet) To use the microblogging service Twitter.
   • 2009 2 March, Justin Rebello, “Eight top-notch tips for the Twittering attorney"”, Wisconsin Law Journal, retrieved on 2 March 2009:

     Eight top-notch tips for the Twittering attorney

   • 2009 2 March, Michelle Levi, “McCain Criticizes Obama On The Senate Floor”, CBS News, retrieved on 2 March 2009:

     In addition to listing specific earmarks he finds the most reprehensible, McCain said he has been twittering the “top ten” most egregious

   • 2009 23 Feb, MSNBC, “Stars can’t stop Twittering at Oscars, parties”, Access Hollywood, retrieved on 2 March 2009:

     Stars can’t stop Twittering at Oscars, parties

Synonyms

• (internet neologism): tweet

Derived terms

• atwitter

Translations

to utter chirps

• Dutch: tjielpen
• Finnish: sirkuttaa
• German: zwitschern (de)

• Italian: cinguettare
• Maori: pekī, tihau
• Russian: щебетать (ru) impf (ščebetátʹ), чирикать (ru) impf (čiríkatʹ), чирикнуть (ru) pf (čiríknutʹ) (semelfactive)
• Swedish: kvittra (sv)

to speak nervously

• Finnish: höpöttää (fi)

to use Twitter

• Dutch: twitteren (nl), tweeten
• Finnish: twiitata
• German: twittern (de)
• Portuguese: twittar (pt)

• Russian: твитить (ru) impf (tvítitʹ), твитать impf (tvítatʹ), твитнуть (ru) pf (tvítnutʹ) (semelfactive)
• Spanish: twittear (es), tuitear (es)
• Swedish: tvittra (sv)

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French

Verb

twitter

1. to tweet (to use Twitter)

Related terms

• twit (a tweet (a message on Twitter))
• tweet (a tweet (a message on Twitter))