Twine
name, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A twist; a convolution. countable, uncountable
"Not Typhon huge ending in ſnaky twine:"
- 2 a lightweight cord wordnet
- 3 A strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together, and used for various purposes, as for binding small parcels, making nets, and the like; a small cord or string. countable, uncountable
"The orioles like to build the framework of twine, and it is marvelous how they will loop this around a twig almost as evenly knotted as if crocheted[…]"
- 4 The act of twining or winding round. countable, uncountable
"The Colewort's rankness, but with amorous twine / Clasps the tall Elm"
- 5 Intimate and suggestive dance gyrations. countable, uncountable
"1965, Wilson Pickett, Don't Fight It (blues song), BMI Music. The way you jerk, the way you do the twine / You're too much, baby; I'd like to make you mine …"
- 1 To weave together. transitive
- 2 Alternative form of twin (“to separate”). alt-of, alternative
- 3 form into a spiral shape wordnet
- 4 To wind, as one thread around another, or as any flexible substance around another body. transitive
"Let me twine Mine arms about that body […]"
- 5 spin, wind, or twist together wordnet
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 To wind about; to embrace; to entwine. transitive
"“Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine,” The victor cried, “the glorious prize is mine! […]”"
- 7 make by twisting together or intertwining wordnet
- 8 To mutually twist together; to become mutually involved; to intertwine. intransitive
"Usually some old crone was squatted on the earth floor, weaving cedar fibre or tatters of old cloth into a mat, her claw-like fingers twining in and out, in and out, among the strands that were fastened to a crude frame of sticks."
- 9 arrange or coil around wordnet
- 10 To wind; to bend; to make turns; to meander. intransitive
"As rivers, though they bend and twine, Still to the sea their course incline:"
- 11 To ascend in spiral lines about a support; to climb spirally. intransitive
"Many plants twine."
- 12 To turn round; to revolve. obsolete
"dancers twine midst cedar-fragrant glades"
- 13 To change the direction of. obsolete
"For where he turned his sword, or twined his steed, He slew, or man and beast on earth down laid,"
- 14 To mingle; to mix. obsolete
"As lumpes of sugar loose themselues, and twine Their subtile essence with the soul of wine."
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"Tom attached some twine to the kite."
Etymology
From Middle English twyn, twyne, twin, from Old English twīn (“double thread, twist, twine, linen-thread, linen”), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (“thread, twine”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwisnós (“double”), from *dwóh₁ (“two”).
From Middle English twinen, twynen, from Old English *twīnian (“to twine, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *twiznōną (“to thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwisnós (“double”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”). Cognate with Dutch twijnen (“to twine, contort, throw”), Danish tvinde (“to twist”), Swedish tvinna (“to twist, twine, throw”), Icelandic tvinna (“to merge, twine”).