twosomen.adj.

c1480 (a1400) St. Katherine 691 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 462 Full Ioyfull þane þire twasum war.

1489 (a1380) J. Barbour Bruce (Adv.) x. 19 Twasum [1487 St. John's Cambr. two men] samyn mycht nocht rid.

a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 276 Thair was nane left onslaine bot himsellff his brother and twasum with thame.

1803 in W. Scott Minstrelsy Sc. Border (ed. 2) III. 21 The twa-some they hae slayne the ane.

1816 W. Scott Black Dwarf viii, in Tales of my Landlord 1st Ser. I. 155 The rest disperse by twasome and threesome.

c1870 Jethart Worthies (ed. 3) 58 The twosome kept the secret for a season or two.

1893 S. R. Crockett Stickit Minister x. 120 When the twasome had been haein' denner thegither.

1926 Amer. Speech 1 630/2 The expressions onesome, twosome, threesome, foursome, fivesome, are coming to be used in other fields than golf, as a ‘threesome at tennis’, a ‘foursome for bridge’, a ‘fivesome for dinner’.

1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 19/2 Twosome,..lovers.

1959 Manch. Guardian 12 Aug. 6/2 For the leaders of the nations..the rule is two by two. What is one to think of these twosomes?

1972 Guardian 4 Dec. 12/1 Government in Australia and New Zealand has become a socialist twosome.

1973 L. Snelling Heresy i. i. 8 Shockley and..Rosamund became a definite twosome in Rome.

1978 J. Irving World according to Garp xii. 232 Along came another Land Rover, as if they were a separated twosome from a column of an army on the move.

1982 H. Engel Ransom Game xvii. 101 Eddie Milano..used to spend a lot on her. They didn't keep house..—there's a Mrs. Milano out in Fort Erie, I think—but they were known as a twosome in the joints.

1911 in Conc. Oxf. Dict.

1977 Washington Post 3 Sept. d7/4 Irwin and Weiskopf..had to roll in 25-foot birdie putts at the 18th in the last twosome of the day.

1983 Washington Post 6 Nov. c2/1 The [golf] competition..also includes two some matches.

1825 J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl. at Twa Twasum is still used to denote a dance, in which two persons are engaged; a twasome dance, i.e. a strathspey.

1830 J. Galt Lawrie Todd II. vi. i. 241 Whisking round and round the room to a two-some reel.