| 释义 |
▪ I. twin, a. and n.|twɪn|
Forms: 1 adj. twinn, (n. pl. ᵹetwinnas, 3 itwinnes), 3–6 twynne, 3–7 twinne, 4 tuine, Sc. twene, 4–5 tuynne, 4–5 (6 Sc.) twyne, 4 (6 Sc.) tuin, tuinne, tuyne, 4–7 twyn, 5–7 twine, 6 twynn, 7 twinn, 3– twin.
[OE. twinn adj. (rare), ᵹetwinn adj. and n., f. the stem of twi-. Cf. OFris. twina, twine (NFris. twĕne, twăne) two together, ON. tvinnr, tvennr double, (pl.) two, two pairs of, Norw. tvinne, tvenne, Da. tvende two. In northern ME. perhaps partly or mainly from ON.: cf. thrin a.]
A. adj.
†1. Consisting of two; twofold, double. Obs. (exc. as in 4).
c1000in Napier O.E. Glosses i. 1836 Gemina, .i. duppla, twinnum. Ibid. 2605–6 Geminis concentibus, twinnum sangum. c1200Ormin 7737–9 Ȝho brohhte twinne lac, Forr..her iss twinne lufe sett Bitwenenn menn onn eorþe; Forr uss birrþ lufenn Godd & mann. c1250Gen. & Ex. 485 [Lamech sinned in] Twin-wifing ant twin manslaȝt. 1357Lay Folks Catech. 508 This is principaly done opon twyn wise. c1400Rule St. Benet (Prose) 5 Of twine maner at lere his discipilis..at serue god: baþe in word and dede.
†2. Two; a pair of{ddd}; the two, both. Obs.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3248 Ðe water up-stod..On twinne half. Ibid. 4020 Heft haueð he mad her .vii. alter, And on ilc brend eft twin der. a1300Cursor M. 523 (Cott.) His heued with in has eien tuin. Ibid. 5235 Ioseph had þan suns tuin, Manassen and effraim. Ibid. 9136 His eild was fourti yeir and tuin. Ibid. 21750 Þe laghes tuin sal þou find sua.
3. (attrib. use of B. 1.) Born at the same birth, as two children or animals, or one of such. See also twin-brother, -sister.
1590Shakes. Com. Err. v. i. 350 He, and I, And the twin Dromio. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 313 A..twin-lamb. 1751Warburton Pope's Ep. Burlington 117 note, These groves..can express themselves only like twin-ideots by nods. 1822T. Mitchell Aristoph. II. 191 By the twin-gods I vow. 1847W. C. L. Martin The Ox 40/2 Every twin female..is not necessarily barren, even when the other calf is a male.
4. a. Forming a pair or couple; two closely associated, connected, or related, and (usually) alike or equal. (In quot. 1601 said of one thing cut in half; in quot. 1776 loosely of more than two.)
In this sense, and in senses b, d, and 5, often hyphened to the noun (cf. the combinations under C), or occasionally written as one word with it.
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 64 Th' Elements, twin-twins (two sons, two daughters) To wit, the Fire, the Aire; the Earth, and Waters. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 230 An apple cleft in two, is not more twin Then these two creatures. 1614Sylvester Litt. Bartas 617 Those twin-Princes [the sun and moon]..Began their Kingdoms over day and night. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 131 Therefore are the twin-diseases deservedly associated. 1743Francis tr. Hor., Odes iii. xxix. 96 Perhaps some kinder gale, While the twin stars appear, shall fill my joyful sail. 1765Museum Rust. IV. 20 When you meet with twin fruit, take off the least of them with all possible care not to shake the other. 1776Mickle tr. Camoens' Lusiad 163 The seven twin-mountains tremble at the sound. 1809–10Coleridge Friend i. xv. (1865) 207 These twin truths, or rather..this one great truth considered in its two principal bearings. 1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 117 The leather must..be pierced with twin holes for each double tooth. 1875Knight Dict. Mech., Twin-screws, a pair of screw-propellers on separate shaft[s], and having right-handed and left-handed twists respectively. 1898J. T. Fowler Durham Cath. 38 Twin shafts of Purbeck marble.
b. Composed of, or having, two similar and equal (or closely connected or related) parts or constituents; consisting of two joined in one.
twin boat, twin steam-engine, twin valve: see quots. c 1816, 1875. twin crystal: = B. 3 b. twin earthquake: see quot. 1906.
1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 35 Let Christ both God and man your Twinrock [orig. croupe iumelle] be. a1661Fuller Worthies, Kent (1662) ii. 86 An Ingenuous Yeoman in this County..hath two Ploughs fastened together so finely, that he plougheth two furrows at once, one under another,..this device of a Twinne-Plough. 1805–16R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 2) 220 A crystal..composed of two halves of one..crystal, of which the one-half appears to be turned round. Example, Twin-crystal of felspar. c1816Rees Cycl. s.v. Steam-Engine, In 1811 and 1812 two steam-boats were built..as ferry-boats for crossing the Hudson river. These boats are what are called twin-boats; each of them being two complete hulls united by a deck or bridge. 1826Kirby & Sp. Entomol. IV. xlvi. 288 Double Ocellus (Ocellus geminatus). When two ocelli are included in the same circle or spot... Twin Ocellus (Ocellus didymus). When such ocelli join each other. 1848Rickman Archit. 152 They may be called twin-windows, consisting of two single lights coupled together. 1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2667 A large twin channel steamer..has lately been put upon the Dover and Calais ferry. Ibid. 2668 Twin Steam-engine,..a duplex engine; one in which two engines, complete in their parts, are associated in a single effort. Ibid., Twin-valve, a form of valve attached to the discharge outlet of a pump..used for making a double connection, one with the steam-boiler.. and the other..for conducting water wherever desired. 190619th Cent. Mar. 465 To earthquakes of this description the name of ‘twin’ has been given, because the double shock is due to two distinct impulses resulting from a single generative effort. 1910Thompson tr. Aristotle's Hist. Anim. 562 In some twin eggs a thin partition of white intervenes to prevent the yolks mixing.
c. Nat. Hist. Growing or occurring in pairs; geminate.
1812New Bot. Gard. I. 26 The anthers twin and erect. 1830Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 130 Seeds solitary or twin. 1891Cent. Dict., Twin..I. a...6. In entom., geminate: applied to spots, punctures, spines, etc., which are close together in pairs.
d. Pertaining to two (persons or things) in close connexion.
1827Southey Devil's Walk v, Such a twin-likeness there was in the pair. 1870Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 174 Their twinlife seemed so piteous.
5. Forming one of a pair or couple; closely associated with or related to another.
1605Chapman All Fools iii. i, Here comes the twyn-Courtier his companion. 1781Cowper Hope 102 Yesterday's face twin image of to-day. 1835Lytton Rienzi iii. iii, True sentiment..is twin with melancholy. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. Introd. 1 Having in a twin volume treated of Gardening as an Art of Design and Taste.
B. n.
1. a. pl. Two children or young brought forth at one birth.
[a900O.E. Martyrol. 17 Jan. 24 Seo cierece..is neah Lingona byriᵹ, þa man nemneð æt sanctos geminos, æt þæm halᵹum ᵹetwinnum. a1000in Cockayne Shrine (1864) 92 Hi wæron ᵹetwinnas. c1205Lay. 12256 Twene ibroðeren itwinnes heo weoren.] c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 322/5 Twynnes boþe huy were. 1388Wyclif Song Sol. vii. 3 Thi twei teetis ben as twei kidis, twynnes of a capret. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 10 So yere by yere two twynnes forthe she brought. 1573Tusser Husb. (1878) 74 Keepe twinnes for breed. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 86 They conceive and bring forth for the most part twins, or two at a time. 1793Holcroft Lavater's Physiogn. xxix. 140, I have known twins not to be distinguished from each other, between whose minds there was not the least similarity. 1847W. C. L. Martin The Ox 40/2 The cow..produces..sometimes..twins, and very rarely three. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xix, My brother and I were twins.
b. sing. One of two children or young brought forth at a birth; with possessive or of = twin brother or sister.
c1440Promp. Parv. 505/2 Twynne, or twynlynge.., gemellus,..geminus. 1530Palsgr. 283/2 Twyn, jumeau. a1658Cleveland King's Ret. fr. Scotl. 19 The divided Dam Runs to the Summons of her hungry Lamb; But when the Twin cryes halves, she quits the first. 1824Byron Def. Transf. i. ii. 81, I saw your Romulus..Slay his own twin. 1899Westm. Gaz. 4 Mar. 2/1 It's not me..but Hilda, and she's my twin. 1912Keith Human Body viii. 116 All of these ‘acardiac’ or ‘parasitic’ fœtuses are never born alone; they are the twin of a normal child.
c. Astron. (pl.) The zodiacal constellation and sign Gemini.
1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. x. 100 The signe of gemini that ben cleped twynnes or doubles. 1561B. Googe Palingenius' Zodiac of Life Pref. {fatpara}j b, Saturne..with a backward course he ranne from out the twinnes apace. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. vi. 95 Here in the zodiack begins The Ram, the Bull, the loving Twins. 1727–46Thomson Summer 43 When now no more the alternate Twins are fired, And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze. 1868Lockyer Guillemin's Heavens ii. i. (ed. 3) 315 Part of the constellation of the Twins.
d. dial. (pl.) Applied to three children born at one birth; triplets.
1606Transcr. Regrs. Cosmus Bleane in Kent (MS.), Was Baptyzed three Twines, John, Sara, and Margeret, the sonne and daughters of Liby Strydwicke. 1631–2Canterbury Transcr., Kingsdown (MS.), Two (of three twinnes) to wit daughters of Christopher Bacheler..were buried. 1646Inscr. Blyton Church, Lincs, Hadassah Tabitha Cephas Twins of Robt. and Elizabeth Drury.
e. with twins (strengthening of with child, child n. 17 c (b)). fig. greatly longing. rare—1.
1768Garrick Let. June in Burke's Corr. (1844) I. 156 Hearing what a sweet place you have,..I am with twins till I am well delivered at Gregories.
2. fig.
a. pl. Two persons or things intimately associated, connected, or related (esp. in origin, or from the beginning), or, as in quot. 1784, closely resembling or agreeing with each other; two forming a pair or couple. (In quot. a 1600 loosely applied to more than two.)
Applied by Puttenham (quot. 1589) to the figure hendiadys.
1589Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. (Arb.) 188 Another manner of speach when ye will seeme to make two of one.., which therefore we call the figure of Twynnes, the Greekes Endiadis. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1637) 395 Sinnes and excuses are twinnes born at a birth. a1600Montgomerie Sonn. viii. 9 Come, troup of tuinis, about his temple tuyn Ȝour laurell leivis. 1612Two Noble K. ii. ii. 21 Never Shall we two exercise, like Twyns of honour, Our Armes again. 1784Cowper Task iv. 738 Two were never found Twins at all points. 1820Shelley Ode to Liberty xiii, Twins of a single destiny!
b. sing. One of two thus related; in early use sometimes = mate, companion; now usually with of, to, or possessive: something closely connected with or resembling the other thing mentioned; a fellow, counterpart.
1540R. Hyrde tr. Vives' Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592) N iij, A woman..with whom he shall live a twin. 1616Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. xi. 190 Hee..shall have his landes, and her to wifelie twinn. 1697Bentley Phal. (1699) 249 Another consequence the very twin to that which went before. 1819Byron Juan ii. clxxii, All who joy would win Must share it—Happiness was born a twin. 1822–7Good Study Med. (1829) IV. 11 The great sympathetic..nerve..meets its twin from the opposite side. 1867Maurice Patriarchs & Lawg. viii. (1877) 168 Love would be seen to be the eternal twin of Truth. 1908O. Seaman Salvage, Sweet Uses Obesity vii, Her bed, as a matter of course, is A twin of the wonder of Ware.
3. a. A pair of twin children or young; also fig. or gen. a pair, couple, brace. Obs. exc. dial.
1569in Spenser's Poet. Wks. (1910) I. 494, I saw the roote in hie disdaine Sende forth againe a twinne of forked trees. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 195 Commonly they are brought forth in twins. 1635A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 80 Her Soul was delivered of a twinne of Vows. 1817J. Nichols Illustr. Lit. Hist. 18th C. II. 657 [He] was born in December, 1744..and was one of a twin. 1901M. E. Francis Past. Dorset 142 ‘The twin’, a fine healthy pair of four-year-old boys.
b. Cryst. A composite crystal consisting of two (usually equal and similar) crystals united in reversed positions with respect to each other, either by juxtaposition, embedding, or interpenetration. (Also extended to composite crystals consisting of more than two.)
1845Encycl. Metrop. XVI. 364/2 Twinning on an octahedral face is seen in the apposition twin of Spinel. 1868Dana Min. (ed. 5) 354 Orthoclase... Twins..right- or left-handed... A twin of 4 crystals... A twin of 3 crystals. 1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. vi. §156 The two individuals may present a mere contact at a common surface.., the juxtaposed twin..: or there may be an interlocking of the crystals,..as in the..embedded twin of orthoclase..: or again, there may be a complete mutual interpenetration.., as in..an interpenetrant twin of galena... In the case of polysynthetic twins several or almost innumerable hemi⁓tropic individual crystals may be combined. Ibid. vii. §193 Simple twins composed of two individuals, and..complex twins formed by repeated twinning.
c. local. An agricultural implement with two rows of teeth, for breaking up ploughed land and clearing it of weeds.
1847in Halliwell. 1859Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XX. i. 216 A pair of ‘twins’, or heavy drag-harrows. 1881G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Twins,..for breaking the clods and uprooting the weeds of ploughed land, preparatory to the harrows going on... The implement..is either single or double, and in the latter case is spoken of as ‘a pair of twins’, the several parts being coupled together.
d. ellipt. for twin aerial, bed, -city, -cylinder car, -cylinder engine, -engined aeroplane, -town, etc. (see C.).
1928[see sun arc s.v. sun n. 13 a]. 1930Times 14 Mar. 12/3 As soon as the B.B.C. ‘twins’ came into use and two wave-lengths were available. 1938O. Nash I'm a Stranger here Myself 85 A double bed or twins. 1944G. L. Nute Lake Superior iii. xii. 277 Superior had hoped to be the terminus of the first railroad to the head of the lake, but when one came, in 1870, its terminal was Duluth rather than the other twin. 1955,1963[see single n. 3 o]. 1975B. Meggs Matter of Paradise vi. ii. 167 Nice..room, double bed... Should have made a point to ask for twins. 1976R. Barnard Little Local Murder i. 11 They've done one before—for a town in Essex with a twin in Canada. 1976B. Lecomber Dead Weight iii. 45 If I was going into the charter business I had to have a twin—and she was..the only twin on the whole airport that I could afford.
†4.
a. in twin (also contr. itwin), on twin: in or into two parts or divisions; in twain, in two, apart, asunder. (Cf. atwin advb. phr.1) Chiefly north. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 3968 (Cott.) For doute he delt þam in tuin. Ibid. 6269 He sagh þe see it drau in tuin. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 251 Fro we in twynne wern towen & twayned, I haf ben a Ioylez Iuelere. Ibid. B. 1047 Quen hit is brused oþer broken, oþer byten in twynne. 1375Barbour Bruce viii. 175 Sa fer..that thai War in-twyn a bow-draucht & mar. c1400Gamelyn 317, I wil not þis companye parten on twyne. c1400Destr. Troy 6581 Anoþer..he nolpit to ground, Shent of þo shalkes, shudrit hom itwyn. c1450Bk. Curtasye 735 in Babees Bk. (1868) 324 Þe smalle lofe he cuttis euen in twynne. c1480Lyt. Childr. Lyt. Bk. 24 ibid. 18 Kerue not thy brede to thynne, Ne breke hit not on twynne. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) III. 226 Quhilk causit him stand..fra him..rycht far in tuyn.
†b. Hence (or from twin v.1) twin is used for ‘parting, separation’. Obs. rare—1.
a1300Cursor M. 24285 (Edin.) Ik am wit þe With outen twin [Cott., Gött. tuin] and ai sal be Fra nu for euirmar.
C. Combinations.
a. with ns., forming adjs. in sense ‘having or characterized by twin{ddd}s, i.e. a pair of (the things named)’, as twin-burner, twin-cylinder, twin-engine, twin-float, twin-fuselage, twin-light, twin-power, twin-roller, twin-track, twin-wire.
b. with n. + -ed2, forming parasynthetic adjs. in same sense, as twin-balled, twin-engined, twin-forked, twin-headed, twin-hued, twin-leaved, twin-named, twin-peaked, twin-spiked, twin-striped, twin-towered, twin-towned, twin-tyred, twin-walled, twin-wheeled.
c. objective, etc., as twin-bearing adj., twin-getter, twin-killing; twin-like adj. and adv.d. adverbial (‘as a twin or twins’), as twin-begot, twin-existent adjs.; twin-slumber vb.e. Special Combs.: twin aerial (temporary), a twin-wire aerial; twin-axis Cryst., the axis of twinning in a twin crystal, i.e. the line about which either of the constituent crystals would have to revolve to come into the position of the other; twin-barren, a barren female calf twin with a male, a freemartin; twin bed, one of a pair of matching single beds; hence twin-bedded a. (a) tucked up in a twin-bed (nonce-use); (b) furnished with twin beds; twin bedstead, one of a pair of matching single bedsteads; twinberry, U.S., a name for Gaultheria procumbens (also called checkerberry, partridge-berry, or wintergreen), or its fruit; twin-bill Baseball = double-header c; twin-birth, the birth of twins; a pair born or produced as twins, or one of such in relation to the other (usually fig.); twin carburettor, one of a pair of carburettors in the same engine; so twin carb.; twin city, (a) N. Amer., either of two cities that are very close neighbours; spec. in pl. (U.S.) St. Paul and Minneapolis, (Canad.) Fort William and Port Arthur; (b) occas. used of a city in the sense of twin town below; twin double, a system of betting (on horse-races, etc.) in which the winners of four successive races must be selected (i.e. two doubles in sequence); twin-face Cryst., a face in a twin crystal perpendicular to the twin-axis; twin floats, a pair of floats (float n. 8 e) on a seaplane; twinflower, an American name for Linnæa, from the flowers being produced in pairs; twin-jet a. Aeronaut., having two jet engines; also ellipt. as n., a twin-jet aircraft; † twin-kin a. [kin n.1 6 b], of two kinds, twofold, double; twin lamb disease, a pregnancy toxæmia in sheep, apparently caused by malnutrition; twin-law Cryst., the law or principle of twinning of a twin crystal; twin-leaf, a name for the N. American herb Jeffersonia diphylla, the leaves being divided each into two leaflets; twin-lens a., designating a camera with two identical sets of lenses, either for taking stereoscopic pictures, or (more commonly) with one forming an image for viewing and the other an image to be photographed; twin-pair, a pair of things precisely similar and equal; attrib. in twin-pair sheet Geom., that part of the surface of a cone of the third or higher degree which meets the concentric sphere in two equal and similar closed curves; twin paradox Physics, in relativity theory, the conclusion that if one of a pair of twins makes a long journey at high speed and then returns, he will have aged less than the twin who remains behind; twin-plane Cryst., a plane perpendicular to the twin-axis of a twin crystal; twin plate Glass-making, plate glass which is ground and polished on both sides at once; also attrib.; twin prime Math., each of a pair of prime numbers whose difference is 2; twin-screw, a. having twin screws; spec. of a steamer, having two screw propellers on separate shafts, which turn in opposite directions so as to counteract the tendency to lateral vibration; also ellipt. as n. a twin-screw steamer; twin set (also with hyphen and as one word), a woman's matching jumper and cardigan; twin soul, a kindred spirit; also as attrib. phr.; twin species Biol. [tr. F. espèce jumelle (L. Cuenot 1929, in Reunion Plénière de la Soc. de Biol. et de ses Filiales, 17–18 Mai 85], two species which are morphologically identical but which are separated by reproductive isolation; cf. sibling species s.v. sibling 3; twin-spot a., having twin spots; used in collectors' names of various moths having pairs of spots upon the wings; twin-stock, a beehive containing two colonies; twin town, one of a pair of towns (usu. in different countries) that have established official links; twin-tub a., (of a washing machine) having two separate top-loading drums, one for washing and the other for spin-drying; also ellipt. as n.
1913Wireless World June 211/2 The ordinary ‘*twin’ aerial used by the Marconi Company on most of their ship-stations. 1928J. Frost Wireless Man. iv. 17 A twin aerial, or aerial of two wires.
1855Orr's Circle Sci., Crystall. 469 The axis about which the crystals are supposed to revolve is called the *twin axis, and the plane to which it is perpendicular the twin plane.
1608Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. iv. Decay 1165 With sharp bodkins bore they out his eyes:..an end-less night Be-clouds for ever his *twin-balled sight.
1778W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 40 English Beasts of Agricultural Labour..*Twin-Barrens.
1788Burns Let. 25 May, Wks. 1879 V. 125 A certain girl's prolific, *twin-bearing merit.
1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House p. xxxviii, If the twin flats and *twin beds produce a guinea more than Shakespear, out goes Shakespear. 1940Graves & Hodge Long Week-End xi. 181 Twin-beds replaced the old..double-bed for married couples. 1973E.-J. Bahr Nice Neighbourhood i. 8, I pictured her..slipping into bed beside her husband... Of course, they may have had twin beds.
1937G. Frankau More of Us xiii. 138 O happy nests (nest's best!) where Bob and Bill Sleep (sleep?) *twin-bedded by their spawn-glad spouses. 1960News Chron. 27 July 4/3 The writer asked for the best twin-bedded room, with private bathroom. 1981‘E. Lathen’ Going for Gold iii. 29 The twin-bedded cubicle.
1900Heal & Son Catal.: Guest's Room: Paris Exhib. 4 *Twin bedsteads. Each 3 feet by 6 feet 6 inches. 1930Heal & Son Catal.: Matter of Taste in Furnit. 17 Twin bedsteads in limed oak.
1939in E. J. Nichols Hist. Dict. Baseball Terminol. (Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania State Coll.) 81 *Twin bill. 1974Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 19 Apr. 5b/1 Virginia's Cavaliers invade Clemson Friday afternoon for a 1:30 Atlantic Coast Conference twin-bill.
1865Swinburne Atalanta 1261 Jason, and Dryas *twin-begot with war.
1836C. P. Traill Backw. Canada xiv. 248 This plant is also called winter-green, or *twin-berry. 1868Rep. U.S. Comm. Agric. (1869) 178 Among them [small fruits] may be noted red and black currants,..twin-berries [etc.].
1807Coleridge To Wordsworth 13 Of smiles spontaneous, and mysterious fear, The first-born they of Reason and *twin-birth. 1837Lockhart Scott xxv, The quarto of Rokeby was followed..by the small volume which had been designed for a twin-birth. 1850A. Jameson Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863) 227 The portentous twin-birth of the two great mendicant communities. 1912Keith Human Body viii. 113 Twins are common; in Ireland a twin birth has a frequency of one in seventy-two, in England about one in seventy-five.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 219/2 A *twin-burner Stove, strongly recommended as a boiler and heater. 1974Country Life 5 Dec. 1772/1 Refrigerator, twin-burner stove..stainless-steel sink.
1967Autocar 5 Oct. 47/1 New car called TC (for *Twin Carb.), retaining all the special equipment of the basic model. 1973‘R. MacLeod’ Burial in Portugal v. 93 The Lancia had..a high compression alloy engine which sucked fuel through twin carburettors.
1856Rock Island (Illinois) Argus 23 Apr., The church bells of the *twin-cities [sc. Rock Island, Ill. and Davenport, Iowa] rang out their joyous notes in honor of the achievement [sc. bridging the Mississippi]. 1883Harper's Mag. June 73/2 The twin cities [sc. St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minn.]..emulate each other in metropolitan airs. 1912J. Sandilands Western Canad. Dict. & Phrase Bk., Twin Cities, when spoken of in Canada, usually refer to Port Arthur and Fort William, neighboring cities and ports in Ontario. 1949St. Paul Pioneer-Press 12 Aug. 1/3 Fog and clouds gave the Twin Cities respite from the hot weather for a few hours Thursday morning. 1968A. Hailey Airport (1969) iii. iii. 319 Detroit and Windsor, the twin cities straddling the [U.S.–Canada] border. 1973Guardian 13 Apr. 10/5 Manchester..is what they, laughingly I trust, call the ‘twin city’ of Leningrad. 1980Quilt World Sept./Oct. 28/3 A learning-packed three-day seminar..will be held at a camp on the shores of Silver Lake in the Twin Cities.
1846T. Craddock Chemistry of Steam-Engine 91 The loss..as that shown by the expansive curve, induced me to devise the arrangement I have designated the *Twin-Cylinder Engine. 1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., Twin Cylinder Steam Engine. 1907Daily Chron. 24 May 9/3 The International Motor Cycle Tourist Trophy Race... Twenty-two single-cylinder and seven twin-cylinder machines have been entered.
1960N.Y. Times 25 Oct. 43/7 The new method, called the *twin double, requires a fan to pick four consecutive winners from the sixth through the ninth races. 1979Internat. Herald Tribune 31 Oct. 23/4 There were seven more races, four more swingers, two daily doubles and a jackpot, or twin double, still to come. Plenty of chances to get well.
193119th Cent. Feb. 155 *Twin-engine Farman ‘Goliath’ seaplanes.
1916War Illustr. 1 Jan. 474/1 The *twin-engined Caudron biplane. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 27 June 1 The aircraft employed..were..twin-engined Handley-Page bombers. 1974E. Ambler Dr. Frigo iii. 190 There was a small twin-engined plane waiting.
1860D. Greenwell Patience of Hope 75 Two principles..within contrariety, *twin-existent,..the desire for unity, and the..love of truth.
1878Gurney Crystallogr. 99 When the twin axis is perpendicular to a possible face this is called the *twin face.
1913Flight 19 Apr. 436 (caption) One of the floats on the *twin-float Breguet. 1942E. Sargent Every Boy's Bk. Aircraft viii. 39 A good example of a military seaplane..is the Fairey Seafox... It has twin floats. 1977G. R. Duval World Float Planes (caption), The Fairey Fly⁓catcher was the standard Fleet Air Arm fighter from 1923 to 1934... The land undercarriage was readily interchangeable with twin floats. 1980P. Lewis Brit. Bomber since 1914 v. 204 During 1933 another Fairey twin-float biplane made its appearance as the Fox Mk. IVM.
1836C. P. Traill Backw. Canada xiv. 238 The Americans call this honeysuckle ‘*twinflower’. 1845S. Judd Margaret i. xiv, Beds of purple twin-flower.
1776Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 441 Ceratophyllum submersum... Leaves forked... Specimens from Paris had the leaves *twin-forked.
193119th Cent. Feb. 159 The *twin-fuselage Blériot 125 mono-plane. 1980Jane's Encycl. Aviation II. 305/1 Blackburn T.B. Twin (UK), large twin-fuselage twin-engined seaplane designed to attack Zeppelin airships with incendiary steel darts.
1837Youatt Sheep xv. 508 Certain rams..have the credit of being *twin-getters.
1872Browning Fifine xi, The *Twin-headed Babe, and Human Nondescript!
1906G. G. Coulton Pearl 43 *Twin-hued topaz.
1946Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. L. 348/1 It may therefore be possible to make more advanced explorations into the transonic region with similar *twin-jet installations. 1953Ann. Reg. 1952 405 An English Electric Canberra B5 twin-jet bomber made history on 26 August by completing a double crossing of the Atlantic in a single day. 1961E. Brown Wings on my Sleeve 85 We had a standing date to go back to Grove and pick up the first of the Arado 234 B twin jets.
1895Pall Mall G. 13 Nov. 2/3 If *twin-killing is more reprehensible than drunkenness. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 473 This twin-killing is a widely diffused custom among the Negro tribes.
13..Cursor M. 512 (Cott.) Þat kyng of craft Wald mensked be wyth *tuinkyn scaft. Ibid. 27677 Þaa dedes þat man mai Vnderstand on tuin-kyn wai.
1945J. F. H. Thomas Sheep v. 93 When in-lamb ewes have a diet which is protein-adequate,..*twin lamb disease is never a serious cause of loss. 1974Country Life 28 Mar. 740/1 Twin-lamb disease..is often fatal.
1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. vi. §162 The *twin-law..appears to permit of considerable divergence from precision in the relative orientation of the crystals subject to it. Ibid. vii. §281 The twin-laws governing the union of rhombohedral crystals. 1912Return Brit. Museum 196 Quartz, group of twinned crystals (Japanese twin-law) from New Mexico.
1845–50A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. App. 115/2 *Twin-leaf. 1857Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 133 In Jeffersonia or Twin-leaf.
1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. V. 272 Scilla bifolia (*Twin-leaved Squill).
1894Country Gentlemen's Catal. 158/3 Hand-Cameras... The 5 × 4 *Twin Lens Artist Magazine or dark slides—{pstlg}15 15s. 0d. 1911Encycl. Brit. XXI. 505/1 (heading) Twin-lens and reflex cameras. Ibid. 505/2 Stereoscopic cameras are another form of twin-lens cameras. 1977J. Hedgecoe Photographer's Handbk. 19 The twin lens reflex design is much older than the SLR and was one of the most popular ‘advanced’ types of camera prior to World War II.
1862Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6720, *Twin-light window, with tracery.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe Wks. (Grosart) V. 226 A *twinlike image of it. 1631R. Brathwait Whimzies, Ballad-monger 18 It would doe a mans heart good to see how twinne-like hee and his songman couple. 1816Southey Poet's Pilgr. Proem ix, The playmate of her infancy, Her twin-like comrade.
1614Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue vi. 48 *Twin-nam'd Ister, and Seaven-mouthed Nile. 1820Byron Mar. Fal. i. ii. 574 Twin-named from the apostles John and Paul.
1957Nature 5 Jan. 35/2 The ‘*twin paradox’ is not even qualitatively discernible in any experiment that does not involve relative accelerations. 1982W. R. Rindler Introd. Special Relativity iii. 51 If the twins A and B, in the twin-paradox ‘experiment’.., visually observe the regular ticking of each other's standard clocks, describe quantitatively what each sees as B travels to a distant point Q and back.
1904W. M. Ramsay Lett. to Seven Ch. xvii. 213 A large..part of ancient Ephesus..can be seen only by ascending to the top of the *twin-peaked Pion.
1855*Twin-plane [see twin-axis above].
1939Archit. Rev. LXXXV. 104 *Twin⁓plate has arrived to supersede ordinary plate glass. 1962Gloss. Terms Glass Industry (B.S.I.) 28 Twin-plate process, a process for making polished plate glass in which rolling, annealing and grinding are carried out on a continuously produced ribbon of glass without first cutting it into sections and in which top and bottom surfaces are ground simultaneously.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Twin-power Press, one in which the power is brought upon two objects in alternation, as in some machines where the punch and shears are in the same frame.
1930T. Dantzig Number iii. 49 It has been shown that the so-called *twin-primes, such as (3,5), (5,7),..(41,43), etc., become rarer and rarer as the numbers increase. 1981Sci. Amer. Feb. 19/2 The largest pair of twin primes given in the December column has now been surpassed by an even larger pair discovered in 1980.
1835Ure Philos. Manuf. 118 The *twin-roller mechanism, which was perfected..by Arkwright.
1864Athenæum 24 Sept. 410/3 Small *twin screw boats. 1884Health Exhib. Catal. 94/1 Patent Twin-screw Bath Fittings. 1891Kipling Light that Failed vii. 123 ‘It's a steamer’, he said,—‘a twin-screw steamer, by the beat’. 1897Daily News 17 Feb. 2/7 They had increased their staff of steamboats by adding the twin-screw Connemara.
1937New Yorker 9 Jan. 62 Here you will find sweater classics—*twin sets of the conventional type. 1944M. Laski Love on Supertax iii. 35 I've got a Worth frock..I swopped..for my cashmere twin-set. 1970Listener 27 Aug. 289/2 Sophia Loren wandering in a tidy twinset across the USSR.
1850S. Dobell Roman vii, The foemen, Good and Ill, *twin-slumber in the womb of Fate.
1868Helps Realmah viii. (1869) 217 Her soul was a *twin-soul to his. 1927Wodehouse Meet Mr Mulliner vi. 172 It seemed to him so plain a proof that they were twin souls that he decided to offer her his hand and heart without delay. a1930D. H. Lawrence Mod. Lover (1934) v. 37 You know, love isn't the twin-soul business.
1931Archivio Zool. XV. 289 During his studies upon evolution the A. has been led to propose some neologisms that seemed to him useful and he reunites in this study, defining precisely the sense of them. Those neologisms are: statistic adaptation, homochromy, preadaptation, differentative death, differentative fecundity, *twin species. 1971Biol. Abstr. LII. 11353/2 (heading) Study of 2 twin species of parasitic copepods.
1861Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. VI. 133 *Twin-spiked Cord-grass.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 423 Geometra quadrifasciaria. The large *Twin-spot. ― didymaria. The Twin-spot Carpet.
1884J. Phin Dict. Apiculture 73 *Twin-stock, a word that has been borrowed from the German. It signifies a hive containing two colonies.
1819G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 423 Geometra costostrigata. The *twin-striped Pinion.
1886F. Caddy Footsteps Jeanne D'Arc 108 A *twin-towered church.
1955Harrogate Advertiser 18 June 8/3 In the afternoon they met in the Council Chamber to discuss Le Monde Bilingue *Twin Town Scheme. 1976Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 2 Nov. 2/2 Wickham entertained 11 French visitors from their proposed twin town of Villers-Sur-Mer at the Kings Head.
1878Archæol. Cantiana XII. 331 The port for London was the *twin-towned port of Rutupiae.
1916Chambers's Jrnl. Dec. 829/1 The *twin-tired commercial vehicle.
1960*Twin-track [see Speed-walk s.v. speed n. 11 c]. 1983Listener 13 Oct. 3/2 When the ‘twin-track’ approach to European nuclear weapons was devised by NATO (make preparations to deploy, but hold arms control talks at the same time) no one seems to have remembered Euclid's principle that parallel lines can never meet.
1962Which? May 139/1 We carried out washing tests..in a *twin-tub washing machine. 1970New Scientist 15 Oct. 134/1 An overnight soak and a wash (in a twin-tub), did remove some..stains.
1913D. H. Lawrence Love Poems & Others 26 As if..the twin-walled darkness had bled In one great spasm of birth.
1904Windsor Mag. Jan. 245/1 A *twin-wheeled machine like the tricycle.
1892Daily News 26 May 6/5 The New Telephone Company... The new exchange will be on the *twin-wire or metallic circuit system.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈtwinfold a., twofold, with the two parts or elements in close connexion; ˈtwinhood, ˈtwinism, ˈtwinness = twinship; ˈtwinity [after trinity], a group of two in intimate union, two in one; ˈtwinly a., characteristic of or befitting a twin (brother or sister).
1842Tennyson in Mem. (1897) I. viii. 200 Its [the heart's] *twinfold necessity, Capacious both of Friendship and of Love.
1871Bp. Wilberforce Let. in Life (1882) III. xiv. 387 That mystery of *twin-hood which seems to reach into the spirit world.
1796Burney Mem. Metastasio III. 92 My fond *twinism has suggested to me, that you pass the chief part of your time in the open air.
1879Baring-Gould Germany Past & Present I. 201 [tr. Schiller] Herder and his wife..form together a sort of sacred *twinity. 1889J. Veitch Knowing & Being i. 22 This may be called a unity; it is rather, if we might invent a term suited to the new and marvellous conception,..an unparalleled and unbegotten twinity.
1796Burney Mem. Metastasio III. 98 Accepting of your *twinly offer. Ibid. 259, I am, with usual twinly kindness, yours most faithfully.
1909Mod. Lang. Rev. Jan. 197 The resemblance of the scheme of the play [Twelfth Night], with the wonderful likeness of Viola and Sebastian, to that of the Comedy of Errors, with the *twinness of the Antipholi.
▸ twin-prop adj. and n. (a) adj. (of a vehicle) powered by twin propellers; (b) n. a twin-prop vehicle, esp. an aeroplane.
1955Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail 12 June 55 The *twin-prop boat is now one of the largest steamers on the Kanawha River. 1978Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 Sept. 51/1 A three-hour flight in a wind-jostled twin-prop. 1983Times 9 June 4/3 She..rode on a twin-prop hovercraft. 2000Vanity Fair Aug. 117/1 We drove to a bullet-peppered airfield outside of town and boarded an old twin-prop that flew us up Bunce River.
▪ II. twin, v.1 Obs. exc. Sc.
Forms: see prec.; cf. also twine v.2
[ME. twinnen, f. twin a. or n. For the development of the senses cf. twin n. 4.]
1. trans. To put asunder (properly two things or persons, or one from the other); to separate, disjoin, disunite, sunder, sever, part, divide; † to deliver, set free; fig. to distinguish.
a1225Ancr. R. 254 Euerichon to dealed [MS. T. itwinned] from oðer. c1230Hali Meid. 13 Engel & meiden beon euening in uertu of meidenhades mihte þah eadinesse ham twinni ȝette & to-tweame. a1300Cursor M. 390 (Cott.) For to tuin dai fra night. Ibid. 7948 Þi hus..Sal neuer tuind [v.rr. tuinned, twynned] be fra suord. Ibid. 22912 Nan es..þat can Tuin þat erth þat com o man Fra þat erth þat es bredd o best. c1400Love Bonavent. Mirr. (1907) 252 Our bodily felauschip is twynned, and now moste I nedes be departed fro the. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 6704 Twede fra scotlande bernyce twynnes. c1460Towneley Myst. i. 11 Oone god in persons thre, Which may neuer twynnyd be. Ibid. ii. 325 With cheke bon,..Shal I the and thi life twyn. Ibid. vii. 12 From hell he will theym twyn. 1513Douglas æneis vi. vii. 11 From the sweit lyf twynnit vntymusly. 1637[see 2 a]. 1686G. Stuart Joco-Serious Disc. 58 Then out he drew a gully knife With that he twinned me and my life. 1826–in dial. glossaries (Chesh., Lanc., Northumb.). 1832Motherwell Poems 184 The waves and cruel wars hae twinn'd My winsome luve frae me. 1855Fraser's Mag. LI. 95 Ah, my cruel cruel step⁓dame, who hath twinn'd our love for aye.
†b. To divide or share; to part with. Obs. rare.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 86 Þing þat a man wynnes, It is told purchase, whedir he it hold or tuynnes. 1790Shirrefs Poems 74 Narrow's the saul wha winna twin his gear To..help the poor!
c. To deprive of.
1722Ramsay Three Bonnets i. 180 His [Samson's] strength, O' which she twinn'd him at the length. a1800Fine Flowers in Valley in Child Ballads (1882) I. 220/1 She's taen out her little pen-knife, And twinnd the sweet babe o its life. 1887Service Dr. Duguid xvi. 103 It was just like the twinnin' him o' his vera life to part wi a plack.
2. intr.
a. Of two persons or things: To go asunder; to separate, part.
a1225Ancr. R. 396 Leoue ureond beoð sorie hwon heo schulen twinnen. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 1823 When þe body and þe saule salle twyn. c1410Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxv, And or þei twynne þei moste acorde where þe metynge shall be on þe morowe. a1500Chester Pl. (E.E.T.S.) i. 271 Lightenes, darkenes, I byd yow twyn. 1567Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 60 How suld we twin [ed. 1621 twine] that na man can depart? 1637Rutherford Lett. (1862) I. 209 We should never twin again, except heaven twinned and sundered us. 1790Scots Songs I. 77 We twa will never twin.
†b. To depart, go away (also in weakened sense, to go, proceed); to escape, get free. Obs.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints iv. (Jacobus) 375 Out of þis warld þat we ma twene But schame, det, or dedly syne. c1386Chaucer Prol. 835 Now draweth cut er þat we ferrer twynne He which þat hath the shorteste shal bigynne. ― Monk's T. 15 O Lucifer..Now artow sathanas, þat mayst nat twynne Out of miserie, in which þat thou art falle. c1400Lydg. Flour of Curtesye 256 And if you liste I dyed, I wolde assente, As ever twinne I quik out of this lynde! c1422Hoccleve Learn to Die 183, I keepe nat þat y shal hennes twyne [rime synne]. a1600Montgomerie Devot. Poems v. 22 Or thou be sommound by vncerten death,..Sen tym is precious tak it or ȝe tuin.
†c. With from: To separate oneself from; to part from, take leave of; to depart from, leave, forsake, renounce. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 23182 (Edin.) Fra þat dai forþe..Sal neuir fra bodi sauil tuin. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiv. (Pelagia) 182 Men but nombre..haf I Gert..fra god twyn. c1386Chaucer Pard. Prol. 102 Yet kan I maken oother folk to twynne From Auarice. 1406Hoccleve Misrule 42 Whan fro thee twynned shee. c1430Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 247 Thy feet embracyng fro whiche I shal nat twynne, Mercy requeeryng. 1430–40― Bochas i. xiv. (MS. Bodl. 263) 62/1 Whan the sperit shal fro the bodi twynne.
d. With with: To part with; to take leave of; to deprive oneself of, give up.
a1400–50Alexander 2750 He..takis þam of his tresoure & twynnes with þaim faire. 1486Bk. St. Albans E iij b, When he [the hare] is female and kyndelis hym with in In .iij. degrees he hem berith or he with hem twyn. 1591R. Bruce Serm. (Wodrow Soc.) 207 No heart..can twin with the thing that it loveth, without exceeding sorrow. 1629Sir W. Mure True Crucifixe Introd. 38 As crucified to sinne Readie for Him, with each thing els to twinne Wee labour should. 1721Ramsay Katy's Answer iii, He's unco sweer To twin wi' his gear.
†e. To break asunder; to burst or cleave in twain. Obs.
c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 326 Myn herte with peyn is pressyd, For sorwe myn hert doth twynne. 1513Bradshaw St. Werburge ii. 706 For whiche the citezens..Were sore disconsolate, like for to twyn.
▪ III. twin, v.2
[f. twin a. and n.]
1. a. intr. To bring forth two children or young at a birth; to bear twins.
1573[see twinning vbl. n.2 1]. 1587Harrison England iii. i. in Holinshed I. 219/2 Kine..now and then twin. 1614C. Brooke Eglogues (1772) 99 Whiles thy rams do tup, thy ewes do twyn. 1659Heylin Examen Hist. i. 108 The world had..never increased to such vast multitudes in so short a time, if Eve had not twinned at least at every birth. 1817Keatinge Trav. II. 187 The ewes of this country rarely twin. 1874T. Hardy Madding Crowd xv. (1889) 111 Two more ewes have twinned.
b. trans. To conceive or bring forth as twins, or as a twin with another.
1607[see twinned ppl. a. 1]. 1621G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ix. (1626) 176 From each seuer'd head Each of her hundred necks two fiercer bred: More strong by twinning heires. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) IV. 138, I have..a sister, twinned with me in the womb.
c. intr. in passive sense: To be born at the same birth with; to be the twin brother or sister of another. ? Obs.
1604Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 212 Though he had twinn'd with me, both at a birth. 1701Watts Horæ Lyr., Indian Philos. ix, Might I but see That gentle nymph that twinn'd with me. 1790Bystander 308 If a brother..who had twinned with him should dare [etc.].
2. a. trans. To couple, join, unite, combine (two things or persons) closely or intimately. lit. and fig. Also spec. to cause (towns) to be twinned (chiefly in pass.): see twinned ppl. a. 2 c.
c1394P. Pl. Crede 496 Here y touche þis two, twynnen hem I þenke. 1611Bible Exod. xxvi. 24 They shall be coupled [marg. twinned] together beneath. 1616B. Jonson Masque Ld. Haddington Wks. 941 That twins their hearts; and doth, of two, make one. 1667Milton P.L. xii. 85 True Libertie..alwayes with right Reason dwells Twinn'd, and from her hath no dividual being. 1725W. Halfpenny Sound Building 22 To form a Centre so, that the Mason..shall twin their Arches thereon. 1847Tennyson Princ. i. 56 Still we moved Together, twinn'd as horse's ear and eye. 1957Harrogate Advertiser 16 Mar. 13/5 Harrogate was the first town in the country to be twinned with a French town—Luchon. 1983Guardian Weekly 6 Feb. 13/5 One thousand towns and villages from each country have been twinned.
b. intr. To be coupled; to join, combine, unite; to be parallel or equal, to agree. spec. Of a town or city: to become twinned with (another).
1621[see twinning ppl. a.]. 1638G. Sandys Paraphr. Div. Poems, Job xxxvii. 48 O how inscrutable! his equitie Twins with his Power. 1652Benlowes Theoph. x. lxxvi, Wealth twins with fear. 1973Daily Tel. 1 Feb. 1/4 Liverpool is to go ahead with a plan to ‘twin’ with the port of Haiphong in North Vietnam. 1977Cornish Times 19 Aug. 15/5 Pleyber-Christ, the Breton town with which it is proposed that Lostwithiel should ‘twin’.
c. Cryst. (trans.) To unite (two crystals) according to some definite law so as to form a twin crystal (see twin n. 3 b). Only in passive, and in vbl. n. (twinning vbl. n.2 2).
1845[see twin n. 3 b]. 1883Encycl. Brit. XVI. 363/2 Occasionally a simple form is twinned with a more complex one, as in chabasite. 1895Story-Maskelyne Crystallogr. vii. §193 Crystals twinned on an octahedron-face. Ibid. §194 Two crystals twinned round an axis.
3. trans. To be, or furnish, a ‘twin’ or counterpart to; to match, parallel.
16051st Pt. Ieronimo ii. ii. 14 A suit iust of Andreas cullers, Proportiond in all parts—nay, twins his own. 1869Good Words 1 Mar. 176 Thou hast no mate To..twin those matchless heights. 1873Lowell Graves Eng. Soldiers Concord 32 O'erhead the balanced hen-hawk slides, Twinned in the river's heaven below.
4. Agric. To break up or clear (land) with a ‘twin’ (twin n. 3 c). local.
1841Hartshorne Salopia Antiq. Gloss., Twinning to tak away the scutch. 1859Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XX. i. 217 Some of the turnip-soil, broken up and then ‘twinned’. |