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Twig

//twɪɡ// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small thin branch of a tree or bush.

    "They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire."

  2. 2
    a small branch or division of a branch (especially a terminal division); usually applied to branches of the current or preceding year wordnet
  3. 3
    Somebody, or one of their body parts, not looking developed. slang

    "You need to find a source of motivation and play off of that. Whether it be the jock in high school that always called you fat, or the guy who picked on you and called you a twig."

Verb
  1. 1
    To beat with twigs. transitive
  2. 2
    To realise something; to catch on; to recognize someone or something. colloquial, regional

    "He hasn't twigged that we're planning a surprise party for him."

  3. 3
    To pull Scotland, obsolete

    "Frank shall twig your Nose from your Face"

  4. 4
    branch out in a twiglike manner wordnet
  5. 5
    To be realized and understood; to click. intransitive

    "Dries had told us to bring at least twenty litres of water because there was no water in camp and very few tourists stayed there. I knew I wouldn't get a shower for three days, but I wasn't worried about that. It hadn't twigged that the reason we needed to bring our own water was that the camp itself was a warzone."

Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    To twitch
  2. 7
    understand, usually after some initial difficulty wordnet
  3. 8
    To understand the meaning of (a person); to comprehend.

    "Do you twig me?"

  4. 9
    To tweak
  5. 10
    To observe slyly; also, to perceive; to discover.

    "Now twig him; now mind him: mark how he hawls his muscles about."

Etymology

Etymology 1

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twig, twyg, twigge, twygge, from Old English twigg, twicg, from Proto-West Germanic *twiggu (“small twig, shoot”), apparently a diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *twig (“branch, twig”) (whence also Old English twiġ and twiġa), from Proto-Germanic *twīgą, from Proto-Indo-European *dweygʰom, from *dwóh₁. More at two. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian twiich, twiig (“twig”), Saterland Frisian Twiech (“branch, twig”), West Frisian twiich (“twig”), Dutch twijg (“twig”), German Zweig (“branch, twig; section”), German Low German Twieg (“branch, twig”), Luxembourgish Zwäig (“twig”), Yiddish צווײַג (tsvayg, “branch”); also Old Church Slavonic двигъ (dvigŭ, “branch”), Albanian degë (“branch”).

Etymology 2

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twig, twyg, twigge, twygge, from Old English twigg, twicg, from Proto-West Germanic *twiggu (“small twig, shoot”), apparently a diminutive of Proto-West Germanic *twig (“branch, twig”) (whence also Old English twiġ and twiġa), from Proto-Germanic *twīgą, from Proto-Indo-European *dweygʰom, from *dwóh₁. More at two. Cognates Cognate with North Frisian twiich, twiig (“twig”), Saterland Frisian Twiech (“branch, twig”), West Frisian twiich (“twig”), Dutch twijg (“twig”), German Zweig (“branch, twig; section”), German Low German Twieg (“branch, twig”), Luxembourgish Zwäig (“twig”), Yiddish צווײַג (tsvayg, “branch”); also Old Church Slavonic двигъ (dvigŭ, “branch”), Albanian degë (“branch”).

Etymology 3

From Irish and Scottish Gaelic tuig (“to understand”).

Etymology 4

Compare tweak.

See also for "twig"

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