Twitch
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm. countable, uncountable
"I saw a little twitch in the man's face, and knew he was lying."
- 2 couch grass (Elymus repens; a species of grass, often considered as a weed) uncountable
- 3 a sudden muscle spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition wordnet
- 4 Action of spotting or seeking out a bird, especially a rare one. countable, informal, uncountable
- 5 A stick with a hole in one end through which passes a loop, which can be drawn tightly over the upper lip or an ear of a horse and twisted to keep the animal quiet during minor surgery. countable, uncountable
"THE TWITCH is a short stick of strong ash, about the size of a mopstick, with a hole pierced near the end, through which is passed a piece of strong but small cord, and tied in a loop large enough to admit the open hand freely."
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- 6 A brief, contractile response of a skeletal muscle elicited by a single maximal volley of impulses in the neurons supplying it. countable, uncountable
- 7 The sudden narrowing almost to nothing of a vein of ore. countable, uncountable
- 8 A trip taken in order to observe a rare bird. countable, uncountable
- 1 To perform a twitch; spasm. intransitive
"His fingers were nervously twitching."
- 2 make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion wordnet
- 3 To cause to twitch; spasm. transitive
"Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses..."
- 4 move or pull with a sudden motion wordnet
- 5 To jerk sharply and briefly. transitive
"to twitch somebody's sleeve for attention"
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- 6 squeeze tightly between the fingers wordnet
- 7 To exert oneself. obsolete
- 8 move with abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled motions wordnet
- 9 To spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one. transitive
""The Birdwatchers Handbook ... will be a clear asset to those who 'twitch' in Europe.""
- 10 toss with a sharp movement so as to cause to turn over in the air wordnet
- 1 A live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming.
"On the Amazon Live homepage, fans can also chat with the host and one another in a Twitch-like side panel next to the live video."
Example
More examples"He began to twitch uncontrollably as I called 911."
Etymology
From Middle English twicchen, from Old English *twiċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *twikkijan (“to nail, pin, fasten, clasp, pinch”). Cognate with English tweak, Low German twikken, German Low German twicken (“to pinch, pinch off”), zweckōn and gizwickan (> German zwicken (“to pinch”)).
alternate of quitch
Inspired by the term twitch gameplay.
Related phrases
More for "twitch"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.