Contextualizebeta

twig

noun
/twɪɡ/US

Etymology

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”).

  1. inherited from *dweygʰom✻
  2. inherited from *twīgą✻
  3. derived from *twig✻ — “branch, twig”
  4. inherited from *twiggu✻ — “small twig, shoot”
  5. inherited from twicg
  6. inherited from twig

Definitions

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

    • They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire.
    • A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.

  2. Somebody, or one of their body parts, not looking developed.

    • 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.
    • Schwarzenegger was long past his professional bodybuilding days when he and Carrere shot the tango scene, but he wasn’t a twig.

  3. To beat with twigs.

  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. To realise something

      To realise something; to catch on; to recognize someone or something.

      • He hasn't twigged that we're planning a surprise party for him.
      • I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.
      • I twigged him at once, by the description you gave me. I never see a cove togged out as he was,—tall hat, light sit-down-upons, and a short coat—wasn't it cut short! but in really bang-up style.

    2. To be realized and understood

      To be realized and understood; to click.

      • As the photographer took a couple of preliminary photographs of Mandy, Marcus seized the moment. He knelt behind her. When Mandy turned around, she was initially confused. Then it twigged – he was proposing.

    3. To understand the meaning of (a person)

      To understand the meaning of (a person); to comprehend.

      • Do you twig me?

    4. To observe slyly

      To observe slyly; also, to perceive; to discover.

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

    5. To pull

      • Frank shall twig your Nose from your Face

    6. To twitch

    7. To tweak

The neighborhood

Derived

a twig in a bundle cannot be broken, a twig in a bundle is unbreakable, battle-twig, hop the twig, in prime twig, lime-twig, Macaya green twig anole, off one's twig, one cannot break a twig in a bundle, one can't break a twig in a bundle, twig and berries, twiglet, twig rune, twig snake, twig wilter, you cannot break a twig in a bundle, you can't break a twig in a bundle

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for twig. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA