1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, ii. 1. Rascal fidler, twangling Jack. Ibid. (1609), Tempest, iii. 2. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometimes voices.
d. 1704. Brown, Works, i. 62. Even d'Urfey himself and such merry fellows, That put their whole trust in tunes and trangdilloes, May hang up their harps and themselves on the willows.
d. 1719. Addison, Works [Ency. Dict.]. A freeman of London has the privilege of disturbing a whole street with twanking of a brass kettle.
1762. Collins, Misc., viii. Pleas'd with the twangdillows of poor Crowdero in a country fair.
1812. Colman, Poet. Vag. iii. Loud, on the heath, a twangle rush'd, That rung out Supper, grand and big, From the crack'd bell of Blarneygig.
1840. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, ii. The young Andrea bears up gaily, however; twangles his guitar.
Twank, verb. (Durham School).—To
cane [Halliwell: 'to give
a smart slap with the flat of the
hand, a stick, etc., East'].
Twanking, adj. (common).—Big,
unwieldy: a generic intensive.
Twat, subs. (old).—The female
pudendum: see Monosyllable.
[Halliwell, s.v. Twateth:
'A buck or doe twateth, i.e.
makes a noise at rutting time.]
Whence (venery) to go twat-raking
= to copulate: see Ride;
twat-rug = the female pubic
hair: see Fleece.
d. 1650. Fletcher, Poems, 104. Give not male names then to such things as thine, But think thou hast two twats o wife of mine.
1727. Bailey, Dict., s.v. Twat. Pudendum muliebre.
1890. Century Dict., s.v. Twat [Found by Browning in the old royalist rimes 'Vanity of Vanities,' and on the supposition that the word denoted 'a distinctive part of a nun's attire that might fitly pair off with the cowl appropriated to a monk,' so used by him in his 'Pippa Passes'].
Twatterlight. See Twitter-light.
Twattle. See Twaddle.
Tweague (or Tweak), subs. (old).—Passion,
peevishness: also
tweaguy, adj.; in a tweak
= 'in a heavy taking, much vext,
or very angry' (B. E. and Grose).
1713. Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull, ii. This put the old fellow in a rare tweague.
Tweak, subs. (old colloquial).—1.
A jerk, twinge, pinch: as verb
= to twitch, pull, or snatch:
usually in phrase to tweak
one's nose (Grose). Tweaker
(Felsted School: obsolete) = a
catapult.
1420. Palladius, Husbondrie [E.E.T.S.]. 150. Voide leves puld to be . . . With fyngers lightly twyk hem from the tree.
1632. Jonson, Magnetic Lady, iii. 4. Now tweak him by the nose—hard, harder yet.
1632. Brome, Northern Lass, ii. 5. Tweaks by the Nose, Cuffs o' the Ear, and Trenchers at my Head in abundance.
1663. Butler, Hudibras, i. ii. Quoth he, Tweaking his nose, 'you are, great sir, A self-denying conqueror.'
1724. Swift, Riddle, 25. In passion so weak, but gives it a tweak.
1887. Wingfield, Lovely Wang, ii. Her old toes tweaked with corns.
2. (old).—A dilemma (Phillips, 1706): also as verb = to perplex (Bailey, 1731).
3. (venery).—(a) A wanton, a whore: see Tart; and (b) a wencher: set Muttonmonger.
