Tweak, twēk, v.t. to twitch, to pull: to pull with sudden jerks.—n. a sharp pinch or twitch: any perplexity. [A by-form of twitch.]
Tweed, twēd, n. a kind of woollen twilled cloth of various patterns, much used for men's suits.—adj. made of tweed. [From a mistaken reading of 'tweels' upon an invoice; not, as supposed, from the Tweed valley.]
Tweedle, twē′dl, v.t. to handle lightly: (obs.) to wheedle.—v.i. to wriggle.—n. a sound such as is made by a fiddle—hence the humorous formations Tweedledum, Tweedledee, used to indicate distinctions that are the slightest possible. [Perh. a variant of twiddle; also confused with wheedle.]
Tweel, Scotch variant of twill.
'Tween, a contraction of between.—adj. 'Tween′-deck, lodging between decks.—n. and adv. 'Tween′-decks.
Tweezers, twēz′ėrz, n.sing. nippers: small pincers for pulling out hairs, &c.—n. Tweez′er-case, a case for carrying tweezers. [Perh. traceable to A.S. twisel, a fork; some confusion is possible with obs. tweeze, a surgeon's case of instruments.]
Twelfth, twelfth, adj. the last of twelve.—n. one of twelve equal parts: (mus.) a tone twelve diatonic degrees above or below a given tone.—ns. Twelfth′-cake, an ornamental cake partaken of on Twelfth-night; Twelfth′-day, -tide, the twelfth day after Christmas, the Epiphany; Twelfth′-night, the eve of Twelfth-day or evening before Epiphany. [A.S. twelfta—twelf.]
Twelve, twelv, adj. ten and two.—n. the number next after eleven: the figures representing twelve: (pl.) same as duodecimo.—ns. Twelve′-mo, same as duodecimo, written 12mo; Twelve′-month, twelve months: a year.—adjs. Twelve′-penn′y, worth a shilling: trifling, insignificant; Twelve′score, twelve times twenty, or two hundred and forty.—n. twelvescore yards, a common range in archery, used also in measurements.—Twelve-day writ, a writ in actions on bills, &c., warning defendant to appear within twelve days, otherwise judgment would go against him; Twelve Tables, the name given to the earliest code of Roman law, civil, criminal, and religious, made by the decemvirs in 451-449 B.C.—Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, a work of the 2d century after Christ, in which, on the model of Jacob's blessing of the tribes in Genesis xlix., discourses and prophecies of Christ are put into the mouths of the fathers of Israel; The Twelve, the twelve apostles. [A.S. twelf (Ger. zwölf, and Goth. twa-lif), that is 'two and ten' (for twá-, cf. Two; and for -lif, cf. Eleven).]
Twenty, twen′ti, adj. twice ten: nineteen and one: an indefinite number.—n. the number next after nineteen: the figures representing twenty: an old English division of infantry.—adj. Twen′tieth, next after the nineteenth.—n. one of twenty equal parts of anything.—adv. Twen′tyfold, twenty times as many.—adj. Twen′ty-four, twenty and four.—n. the number made up of four and twenty: (pl., print.) a form of composed type or plates containing twenty-four leaves or forty-eight pages, properly arranged for printing and folding: a book made up of sections of twenty-four pages.—n. Twen′ty-four′-mo, written 24mo, a leaf from a sheet of paper folded for a book in twenty-four equal parts: a book made up of leaves folded in twenty-four equal parts. [A.S. twentig, from twén=twegen, twain, two—tig (Goth. tigjus), ten; Ger. zwanzig.]
'Twere, contraction of it were.