| 释义 |
▪ I. twit, n.1|twɪt|
Also 6 twyte.
[f. twit v.]
1. a. An act of twitting; a (light) censure or reproach; a taunt.
1528in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) I. App. xvii. 38 Which bookes the sayd Frear dyd litle regard, and made a twyte of it. 1664G. Etherege Love in Tub v. v, Upon Condition that there be no Twits of the Good Man departed. 1847L. Hunt Men, Women & B. II. x. 224 An occasional twit at him for disappointing her.
b. dial. (See quot.)
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Twit, a fit of hasty ill-humour; snappishness.
2. a. ? A person given to twitting; dial. a tale-bearer.
1719D'Urfey Pills (1872) VI. 241 A silly, peevish Twit. 1896Warwick Gloss. s.v., ‘You are a twit’.
b. A fool; a stupid or ineffectual person. slang.
1934E. Linklater Magnus Merriman xvi. 178 He was..a false hero who flaunted himself in fine colours when he was drunk and dwindled to a shabby twit when sober. 1960F. Raphael Limits of Love i. iii. 34 Don't be a twit, Sid. 1964Spectator 10 Apr. 493/1 By making his psychologists a dim bunch of twits he weakens his statements. 1970N. Fleming Czech Point i. 20 No one but a prize twit or Captain Oates would have ventured out in this weather. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds xviii. 467 There's no need to get so worked up about it, you twit. 1984Observer 4 Mar. 7/7, I hear and read such phrases as ‘geriatric old twit’: an expression which would hardly have sprung to the lips of the pious Aeneas.
▪ II. twit, n.2
[Of obscure origin.]
A fault or entanglement in a thread, which hinders the process of spinning or weaving.
1819Thomson Poems 27 (E.D.D.) Is 't a cursed wab o' yarn That winna work, for knots and twits? 1884W. S. B. McLaren Spinning vii. (ed. 2) 131 Freedom from twits.
▪ III. twit, n.3
see twit int.
▪ IV. twit, v.|twɪt|
Forms: α. 6 twyte, (twhyte), 6–7 (9 dial.) twite, (twight). β. 6– twit, (7 twitt, twytt); 6 pa. pple. twyte, twit.
[Orig. twite (with long i), aphetic form of atwite, q.v.]
1. trans. To blame, find fault with, censure, reproach, upbraid (a person), esp. in a light or annoying way; to cast an imputation upon; to taunt.
1530Palsgr. 764/2, I twhyte one, I caste hym in the tethe or in the nose, je luy reprouche. This terme is also northren. a1553Udall Royster D. ii. iii. (Arb.) 36 No man for despite, By worde or by write His felowe to twite. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 127, I take him very..simpely wittid, That may the second tyme be iustly twittid. 1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iii. i. 178 Hath he not twit our Soueraigne Lady here With ignominious words..? As if she had suborned some to sweare False allegations. 1633T. Adams Exp. 2 Peter ii. 22 An Egyptian priest thus twitted Solon, You Grecians are ever Children. 1814D'Israeli Quarrels Auth. (1867) 364 The Antiquarian Society were twitted as medal-scrapers. 1865Trollope Belton Est. viii, Anything would be better than being twitted in this way. How can I help it that I am not a man..?
b. Const. most usually with; also about (rare), for, of (now rare or obs.), on; † also with clause or infin. (obs. rare).
1563Harding Answ. Welles Challenge (1565) 6 The woont of some feastemakers, who of their neighbours twited with nyggardnes [etc.]. 1569J. Sandford tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 116 b, And twite their husbandes with the courtly excesse. 1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 374 Ill may the Snight the Woodcock twight for his long bill. 1586A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 80 To twit him, That he had like to haue knockt his hand against the gallowes. 1593T. Watson Tears of Fancie lviii, Yet still I twit my selfe of Surcuidrie. 1593Drayton Eclogues ii. 14 Nor twit me so, my senses to have lost. 1612Beaum. & Fl. Cupid's Rev. iv. iii, You do not twit me with my calling, neighbor? 1613T. Adams Heav. & Earth Reconciled Wks. 1861 I. 469 Shall they twit us, that our Our Father hath taken from the church what their Paternoster bestowed on it? 1650Fuller Pisgah ii. ix. 186 Hannah though silent when twitted by Peninnah of barrenness, found her tongue when..taxed by Eli of drunkenness. 1664H. More Myst. Iniq. vi. 19 Twitting them..for their Idolatry. 1743Fielding Journey i. xv, My friend..now twitting me with all his kindness,..discarded me for ever. 1791Boswell Johnson Dec. an. 1775 (1831) III. 295 He was twitted by Mrs. Thrale for being very late. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xix. IV. 308 Those who held this language were twitted with their inconsistency. 1870Lit. World 16 Dec. 387 When twitted for his inconsistency. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. (1879) II. xv. 381 The opponent of the undulatory theory might effectually twit the holder of it on his change of front. 1877Whittier in Pickard Life (1894) II. 635 It is bad enough to be old, without being twitted of it. 1882L'Estrange Friendships Miss Mitford I. vii. 176 She was sometimes twitted about partialities for her cousin.
c. Also to twit (a person) in the teeth. Obs. or arch.
1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 386 In his youth he was fain to hire another mans house,..at a small rent, as afterwards he was twitted in the teeth withall. 1651Fuller's Abel Rediv., Bradford (1867) I. 218 They twitted him in the teeth with heresy. 1729Gay in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 103 You have often twitted me in the teeth for hankering after the court. 1835Lytton Rienzi iv. i, They twit me in the teeth, because I cannot say who my father and mother were.
2. To condemn as a fault, blame, reprove, rebuke (an act, etc.); to cavil at, to disparage. Now rare.
1571Campion Hist. Irel. ii. viii. (1633) 105 Thus was Perkins bragge twighted. 1580Stanyhurst æneis, etc. (Arb.) 152 Percase carpers wyl twight his iollitye youthful. 1592Greene Upst. Courtier To Rdrs. A iv, Though he speakes againste Veluet breeches..yet hee twits not the weede but the vice. 1673Hickeringill Greg. F. Greyb. 214 Endeavouring to foyl and always twitting a good cause. 1675tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. i. 84 Others..twitted the Authority of the Queen's Majesty too much. 1876J. Weiss Wit, Hum. & Shaks. iii. 87 The clown..remembers how the steward used to twit Olivia's contentment at his sallies.
†b. twit it: to phrase it tauntingly; to utter a taunt or reproach. Obs. rare.
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 276 This Arch⁓bishop..suffered the King to hold his stirup twise in one day in Normandie, but in Prato proditorum, as Mathew Parise very pretily twiteth it. 1673Hickeringill Greg. F. Greyb. 24 To twit it home as wittily and effectually as he can.
3. intr. To tell tales; to blab. Now dial.
a1643[see twitting vbl. n. 2]. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., ‘If he knows he'll twit’.
▪ V. twit, int. and n.3
Also 6 twyt.
†1. An imitation of the cry of an owl. Cf. tu-whit. Obs. rare—1.
1591Lyly Endym. iii. iii, A goodly Owle..sitting vpon my shoulder, cryed twyt, twyt... I meruailed what the Owle said, til at the last, I perceiued twyt twyt, to it, to it.
2. An imitation of the shrill chirp of a small bird; hence as n. a name for this. Cf. tweet.
1820Clare Rural Life (ed. 3) 147 The flap of a leaf, and the twit of a bird. 1828Lights & Shades II. 130 A fat chirping sparrow gave you a twit, twit, twit, that kept you awake. 1922T. S. Eliot Waste Land (1923) iii. 15 Twit twit twit Jug jug jug jug jug jug So rudely forc'd. Tereu. |