[?]. Honest Ghost, 'Farew. to Poetry,' 110. Where now I'm more perplext than can be told, If my tweake squeeze from me a peece of gold; For to my lure she is so kindely brought, I look'd that she for nought should play the nought.
1617. Middleton and Rowley, Fair Quarrel, iv. 4. Your tweaks are like your mermaids, they have sweet voices to entice the passengers.
c. 1650. Brathwayte, Barnaby's Jl. (1723), 101. From the Bushes . . . Rush'd a Tweak in Gesture flanting, With a leering Eye and wanton.
See Tweague.
Tweedle, subs. (thieves').—A
Brummagem ring of good appearance
used for fraudulent purposes.
See Twiddle.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
(The difference between),
subs. phr. (common).—No difference
at all, save in sound; a distinction
without a difference.
[Ency. Dict.: The expression
arose in the eighteenth century,
when there was a dispute between
the admirers of Bononcini and
those of Handel, as to the respective
merits of those musicians.
Among the first were the Duke
of Marlborough and most of the
nobility; among the latter the
Prince of Wales, Pope, and
Arbuthnot.]
c. 1730. Byrom, Feuds between Handel, etc. Some say, compared to Bononcini, That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny. Others aver that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt tweedledum and tweedledee.
Tweenie, subs. (colloquial).—A
'between-maid.'
1888. Notes and Queries, 7 S. vi. 458. In want of a girl to ease both the cook and the housemaid . . . a neighbour . . . replied, . . . 'You want a tweenie.'
Twelve. After twelve, subs.
phr. (Eton).—From noon till
2 p.m.
1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, 39. I used to visit him regularly in the dear old college from the after twelve.
1864. Eton School-days, vi. I tell you plainly if you are not in Sixpenny after twelve, I will do my best to give you a hiding wherever I meet you.
1883. Brinsley-Richards, Seven Years at Eton. One day after twelve the three of us passed over Windsor Bridge in the same condition as the 'bold adventurers' alluded to in Gray's Ode.
Twelve Apostles, subs. phr.
(Cambridge University).—1. The
last twelve in the Mathematical
Tripos (Grose).
2. (Stonyhurst).—The first twelve Stonyhurst students.
Twelve Godfathers, subs. phr.
(common).—A jury. [Hotten:
they name the nature of a crime;
murder or manslaughter, felony
or misdemeanour.] 'You'll be
christened by twelve godfathers
some day' (a taunt).
Twelvepenny, adj. (old).—Trifling,
of small value: frequently
contemptuous.
1614. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 3. Thou esquire of dames, madams, and twelvepenny ladies.
1644. Heylin, Hist. of the Presbyterians, 371. That men be not excommunicated for trifles, and twelve-penny matters.
d. 1701. Dryden, Works [Ency. Dict.]. I would wish no other revenge from this rhyming judge of the twelve-penny gallery.
Twelver, subs. (old).—A shilling;
1s. (B. E. and Grose): cf. Thirteener.
