• twyne(obsolete)

• IPA^(key):/twaɪn/

  • Audio(Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes:-aɪn

FromMiddle Englishtwyn,twyne,twin, fromOld Englishtwīn(“double thread, twist, twine, linen-thread, linen”), fromProto-West Germanic*twiʀn(“thread, twine”), fromProto-Indo-European*dwisnós(“double”), from*dwóh₁(“two”).

twine (countable anduncountable,pluraltwines)

1. Atwist; aconvolution.
   • 1629,John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, inPoems of Mr. John Milton, […], London:[…] Ruth Raworth forHumphrey Mosely, […], published1646,→OCLC,page11:

     NotTyphon huge ending in ſnakytwine:

2. A strongthread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together, and used for various purposes, as for binding small parcels, making nets, and the like; a small cord or string.
   • 1911,Anna Botsford Comstock,Handbook of Nature Study, 24th edition, published1939,pages120–121:

     The orioles like to build the framework oftwine, and it is marvelous how they will loop this around a twig almost as evenly knotted as if crocheted[…]

3. The act of twining or winding round.
   • 1708, [John Philips], “Book I”, inCyder. […], London:[…]J[acob] Tonson, […],→OCLC,page16:

     The Colewort's rankness, but with amoroustwine / Clasps the tall Elm

4. Intimate and suggestive dance gyrations.
   • 1965,Wilson Pickett,Don't Fight It (blues song), BMI Music.

     The way you jerk, the way you do thetwine / You're too much, baby; I'd like to make you mine [...]

• (threads or strands twisted together):sinew

FromMiddle Englishtwinen,twynen, fromOld English*twīnian(“to twine, thread”), fromProto-Germanic*twiznōną(“to thread”), fromProto-Indo-European*dwisnós(“double”), fromProto-Indo-European*dwóh₁(“two”). Cognate withDutchtwijnen(“to twine, contort, throw”),Danishtvinde(“to twist”),Swedishtvinna(“to twist, twine, throw”),Icelandictvinna(“to merge, twine”).

twine (third-person singular simple presenttwines,present participletwining,simple past and past participletwined)

1. (transitive) Toweave together.
2. (transitive) To wind, as one thread around another, or as any flexible substance around another body.
   • c.1608–1609 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene v]:

     Let metwine
     Mine arms about that body[…]

   • 1931,Dashiell Hammett, chapter 10, inThe Glass Key‎^[1], New York: Vintage, published1972, page199:

     She wastwining her fingers together.

3. (transitive) To wind about; to embrace; toentwine.
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     1712 May, [Alexander Pope], “The Rape of the Locke. An Heroi-comical Poem.”, inMiscellaneous Poems and Translations. […], London:[…]Bernard Lintott […],→OCLC, canto III:

     “Let wreaths of triumph now my templestwine,”
     The victor cried, “the glorious prize is mine![…]”

4. (intransitive) To mutually twist together; to become mutually involved; tointertwine.
   • 1941,Emily Carr, chapter 1, inKlee Wyck‎^[2]:

     Usually some old crone was squatted on the earth floor, weaving cedar fibre or tatters of old cloth into a mat, her claw-like fingerstwining in and out, in and out, among the strands that were fastened to a crude frame of sticks.

5. (intransitive) To wind; to bend; to make turns; tomeander.
   • 1713,Jonathan Swift,Cadenus and Vanessa‎^[3]:

     As rivers, though they bend andtwine,
     Still to the sea their course incline:

6. (intransitive) Toascend inspirallines about asupport; toclimb spirally.

   Many plantstwine.

7. (obsolete) To turn round; torevolve.
   • 1598,George Chapman,Hero and Leander:

     dancers twine midst cedar-fragrant glades

8. (obsolete) To change the direction of.
   • 1600,Torquato Tasso, translated byEdward Fairfax,Jerusalem Delivered‎^[4], published1581, Book 20, Stanza 38:

     For where he turned his sword, ortwined his steed,
     He slew, or man and beast on earth down laid,

9. (obsolete) To mingle; to mix.
   • 1646,Richard Crashaw,M. Crashaw’s Answer for Hope‎^[5], lines29–30:

     As lumpes of sugar loose themselues, andtwine
     Their subtile essence with the soul of wine.

• entwine
• intertwine

twine (third-person singular simple presenttwines,present participletwining,simple past and past participletwined)

1. Alternative form oftwin(“to separate”)

twine

1. Alternative form oftwye

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page73