twit

Verb

twit (third-person singular simple present twits, present participle twitting, simple past and past participle twitted)

1. (transitive) To blame or reproach (someone), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner; also, to ridicule or tease (someone).
   • No man for deſpite, / By worde or by write / His felowe to twite, […]c. 1552 (date written), Nicholas Udall, [Ralph Roister Doister], [London]: [s.n.], published 1566?; republished as Edward Arber, editor, Roister Doister. […] (English Reprints), London: Muir &...
   • [I]f vvee meane to tvvit a man that he is a foole, vve vvill ſay thou knovveſt not vvhat thou ſayeſt.1574, Iohn Caluin [i.e., John Calvin], “The CXXXV. Sermon, which is the Eight vppon the .XXXIIIJ. Chapter”, in Arthur Golding, transl., Sermons of Master Iohn Caluin, vpon the Booke of Iob. […]...

   Synonyms:

   censure, upbraid, accuse, atwite, blame, bumble, challenge, cop out, decry, defame

2. (archaic, transitive) To criticize or disapprove of (something), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner.
   • But in the Lovver Houſe ſome there vvere vvhich handled theſe things more tumultuouſly, namely, Bell and Monſon, great Lavvyers, Dutton, Paul VVentvvorth, and others, vvhich tvvitted the Authority of the Queen's Majeſty too much, […]1675, William Camden, “The Ninth Year of Her Reign. Ann. Domini 1566.”, in R[obert] N[orton], transl., The History of the Most Renowned and Victorious Princess Elizabeth, Late Queen of England; […]...

   Synonyms:

   censure, ridicule

3. (transitive) To ignore or kill file (a user on a bulletin board system).
   • However, on the Internet BBS's such as Quartz (now dead), Prism, Monsoon, Sunset, ect,^([sic – meaning etc]) someone pulling that kind of crap is likely to get flamed quite fast and twitted before he/she can breathe.1995 December 5, Michelle Jackson, “Debutante/Question about Tori Shirts”, in rec.music.tori-amos (Usenet)
   • Not only are some of the notoriously foul-mouthed echoes excluded from the BBS message base, but each message is auto-censored for key words that are, in the opinion of the SysOp (me in this case), offensive to a "G" audience. And no, it isn't 100% effective. And no, there is no "thought...2002 August 14, Marc Lewis, “FidoNet”, in alt.bbs (Usenet)
4. (obsolete, transitive) Followed by it: to speak or write (something) in a taunting or teasing manner.
5. (intransitive, transitive) To blame or reproach, especially in a good-natured or teasing manner.
   • Secrecy about B.R. plans for reorganisation and closure of lines and notably some failures to consult with staff representatives concerned with redundancy, are defects with which the railway unions have twitted Dr. Beeching.1962 August, “Talking of Trains: Under Their Hats”, in Modern Railways, Shepperton, Surrey: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 80
   • H[enry] R[ichard] Fox Bourne, secretary of the Aborigines' Protection Society – often twitted for being an 'armchair critic' – wrote in a review of one of [Henry Morton] Stanley's books: 'The Society is not condemning Mr Stanley or his subordinates so much, but the mounting of an expedition with...2007 April 5, Bernard Porter, “Did He Puff His Crimes to Please a Bloodthirsty Readership? Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal. Faber, 570 pp., £25, March 2007, 978...
6. (dialectal, intransitive, obsolete except UK) To be indiscreet; to gossip.

Noun (1)

twit (plural twits)

1. A jibe, reproach, or taunt, especially one made in a good-natured or teasing manner.
   • [T]he ſayd Thomas Hilles & this Reſpondent ſhevvyd the Frear Barons of certayne old Bookes that they had: as of iiij Evangeliſtes, and certayne Epiſtles of Peter & Poule in Engliſhe. VVhich Bookes the ſayd Frear dyd litle regard, and made a tvvyte of it, & ſayd, A poynt for them, for they be not to...1528 May 7 (date written; Gregorian calendar), John Strype, “[Appendix: […].] Numb[er] XVII. The Confession of John Tyball a Lollard; Charges with Heresy.”, in Ecclesiastical Memorials; Relating...
   • Wid[ow]. Novv I have receiv'd you into my Family, / I hope you vvill let my maids go quietly about / Their buſineſs, Sir. / S[ir] Fred[erick Frollick]. Upon condition there be no tvvits of the good man / Departed; no preſcription pleaded for evil cuſtoms / On the VVedding night.1664, Geo[rge] Etherege, The Comical Revenge; or, Love in a Tub. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene v, page 89
2. (informal) An annoying or foolish person.
   • What do you mean, since when did I become such a radical fairy! […] Since I started knowing twits like you, you twit!1988 (date written), Larry Kramer, Just Say No: A Play about a Farce, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, published 1989, →ISBN, Act II, page 66

   Synonyms:

   alcatote, asshat, arsehole, asshole, bayard, berk, birdbrain, blither, bobchin, bonehead

3. (Ireland, UK, archaic, dialectal) A person who chatters or gossips inanely; a chatterer, a gossip or gossiper; also, a person who divulges private information about others or is indiscreet; a tattletale.
   • Young Strephon he has Woo'd me long, / And Courted me with Pipe and Song; / But I a silly, silly peevish Twit, / For want of Sense, for want of Wit, / Have phoo'd, and cry'd, / Have pish'd, and fy'd, / And play'd the fool, and lost my Time, / And almost slipp'd, and almost slipp'd, / And almost...1720, Thomas d’Urfey, compiler, “A Song. Set by Mr. Henry Purcell.”, in Wit and Mirth: Or Pills to Purge Melancholy; […], volume VI, London: […] W. Pearson, for J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1720...

   Synonyms:

   carrytale, blab, blabbermouth, blabtale, blabtongue, busybody, buzzer, gossip, gossiper, gossipmonger

Interjection

1. (onomatopoeic) Used to represent the short, high-pitched call of a small bird, or a similar sound made by something else: cheep, tweet.
   • Midnights bell goes ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, / Then dogs doe hovvle, and not a bird does ſing: / But the Nightingale, and ſhe cries tvvit, tvvit, tvvit, tvvit, / Ovvles then on euerie bovve doe ſit.1601–1602 (date written), attributed to Thomas Dekker and/or Thomas Middleton, Blurt Master-Constable. Or The Spaniards Night-walke. […], London: […] [Edward Allde] for Henry Rockytt, […], published...
   • Twit twit twit / Jug jug jug jug jug jug / So rudely forc'd. / Tereu1922 October, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Part III. The Fire Sermon.”, in The Waste Land, 1st book edition, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, published December 1922, →OCLC, page 30, lines 203–206

Noun (2)

twit (plural twits)

1. A short, high-pitched call of a small bird, or a similar sound made by something else; a cheep, a chirp, a tweet.
   • The minutes seem'd hours—with impatience she heard / The flap of a leaf, and the twit of a bird; […]1820, John Clare, “[Sonnets.] Crazy Nell. A True Story.”, in Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […]; and E[dward] Drury, […], →OCLC, page 210

Noun (3)

twit (plural twits)

1. (US, informal) Chiefly in the form in a twit: clipping of twitter (“a state of excitement or nervousness”).