Theverb is anaphetic form ofatwite(“(obsolete) to blame, reproach”),[1] fromMiddle Englishatwiten(“to attribute (something) to someone; to blame (something) on someone; to accuse or charge (someone) with something; to speak ill of; to taunt”),[2] fromOld Englishætwītan(“to blame, reproach; to censure, upbraid; to taunt”), fromæt-(prefix meaning ‘at, near; toward’) +wītan(“to accuse; to blame, reproach”) (fromProto-Germanic*wītaną(“to punish; to torment; to know; to see”), fromProto-Indo-European*weyd-(“to see”)).
Thenoun is probably derived from the verb, although it is attested in print earlier.[3]
No man for deſpite, / By worde or by write / His felowe totwite,[…]
1574, Iohn Caluin [i.e.,John Calvin], “The CXXXV. Sermon, which is the Eight vppon the .XXXIIIJ. Chapter”, inArthur Golding, transl.,Sermons of Master Iohn Caluin, vpon theBooke of Iob.[…], London:[…]Henrie Binneman, for Lucas Harison and George Bishop,→OCLC,page636, column 1:
[I]f vvee meane totvvit a man that he is a foole, vve vvill ſay thou knovveſt not vvhat thou ſayeſt.
Hath he nottvvit our Soueraigne Lady here / VVith ignominious vvords, though Clarkely coucht? / As if ſhe had ſuborned ſome to ſvveare / Falſe allegations, to o'rethrovv his ſtate.
1606?, Michaell Drayton [i.e.,Michael Drayton], “The Second Eglog”, inPoemes Lyrick and Pastorall.[…], London:[…] R. B[radock] forN[icholas] L[ing] and I[ohn] Flasket,→OCLC; republished inPoemes Lyrick and Pastorall (Publications of the Spenser Society, New Series; 4), [Manchester:[…] Charles E. Simms] for the Spenser Society,1891,→OCLC,page39:
Well wanton, laugh not my ould age to ſcorne, / nortwit me ſo my ſenſes to haue loſte, / the time hath been when as my hopefull morne / promiſ'd as much as nowe thy youth can boaſte:[…]
1650,Thomas Fuller, “The Tribe ofEphraim”, inA Pisgah-sight of Palestine and the Confines thereof, with the History of the Old and New Testament Acted thereon, London:[…] J. F. for John Williams[…],→OCLC, book II, paragraph 18,page186:
ThisHannah though ſilent vvhentvvitted byPeninnah for barrenneſs, found her tongue vvhen here taxed byEli of drunkenneſs: becauſe a meer ſufferer in the former, but in the latter a ſinner, had the accuſation been true.
Thoutwittest me with my Grey Hairs, yet considerest not how I am of the Nature of Leeks, which with a white Head carry a green, fresh, streight, and vigorous Tail.
1659,Thomas Fuller, “That the Author Designed unto Himself No Party-pleasing in Writing His Church-history”, inThe Appeal of Iniured Innocence: Unto the Religious Learned and Ingenious Reader: In a Controversie betwixt the Animadvertor Dr.Peter Heylyn and the Author Thomas Fuller, London:[…] W. Godbid, and are to be sold by John Williams[…],→OCLC, part I,page11:
The oldNon-conformiſts being the ſame vvith the modernPresbuterians, butdepreſſed and under, as the modernPresbuterians are the oldNon-conformiſts, butvertical and inAuthority, do (though theAnimadvertortvvitteth me conſtantly to Advocate for them) take great and general exception at me;[…]
1664,H[enry] More, chapter VI, inA Modest Enquiry into the Mystery of Iniquity,[…], London:[…] J[ames] Flesher for W[illiam] Morden[…],→OCLC, book I,page19:
Again in theſecond Book of the Chronicles, thereAbijah King ofJuda ſpeaking toIſrael, upbraids to them their confidencein their multitude, andin their Golden Calves vvhichJeroboam made them for Gods;tvvitting them thereby aſſuredly for theirIdolatry;[…]
Hovv much are vve Oblig'd then,[…] toÆſop, in the Firſt Place, as theFounder, andOriginal Author, orInventer of This Art of Schooling Mankind into Better Manners; by Minding Men of their Errors vvithoutTvvitting them for what's Amiſs, and by That Means Flaſhing the Light of their Ovvn Conſciences in their Ovvn Faces!
a.1695 (date written),John Tillotson,The Works of the Most Reverend Dr. John Tillotson, Late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury:[…], 8th edition, London:[…] T. Goodwin, B[enjamin] Tooke, and J. Pemberton,[…]; J. Round[…], andJ[acob] Tonson][…], published1720,→OCLC,page101:
Novv this, 'tis probable, theſeScofferstvvitted the Chriſtians vvithall; And becauſeChriſt did not come vvhen ſome looked for him, they concluded he vvould not come at all.
VVhen on a ſubſequent day, he vvastvvitted by Mrs. Thrale for being very late, vvhich he generally vvas, he defended himſelf by alluding to the extraordinary morning, vvhen he had been too early, "Madam, I do not like to come down tovacuity."
No rascally comparative insults a Beggar, or thinks of weighing purses with him.[…] No onetwitteth him with ostentation above his means. No one accuses him of pride, or upbraideth him with mock humility.
Now some imaginatively heterodoxical men are often surprisinglytwitted upon their willful inverting of all common-sense notions, their absurd and all-displacing transcendentals, which say three is four, and two and two make ten.
Anything would be better than beingtwitted in this way. How can I help it that I am not a man and able to work for my bread?
1865 September 12,John Williamson, Maurice Fitzgerald, compiler, “Separation. Adjourned Debate.”, inNew Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Third and Fourth Parliaments.[…] (House of Representatives), Wellington: G. Didsbury, government printer, published1887,→OCLC,page499, column 2:
The honourable member for Ellesmere, on the opening of this session, got up andtwitted them with not being there on the first day.
Dear France, thou thy insular neighbour ofttwittest / As "Shopkeeper!" Well ma'am,j'y suis, and shall stop; / For a Shopkeeper's one who—of course—keeps the Shop!
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 havetwitted Dr. Beeching.
2007 April 5,Bernard Porter, “Did He Puff His Crimes to Please a Bloodthirsty Readership?Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer byTim Jeal. Faber, 570 pp., £25, March 2007, 978 0 571 22102 8 [book review]”, inMary-Kay Wilmers, editor,London Review of Books[1], volume29, number 7, London: LRB Ltd.,→ISSN,→OCLC, archived fromthe original on2024-03-03, page10:
H[enry] R[ichard] Fox Bourne, secretary of the Aborigines' Protection Society – oftentwitted 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 aims and methods which almost necessitated the cruelties and slaughters that were incident to it … It seems better to remain in armchairs and pass resolutions than wantonly to embark on perilous enterprises, which can only be carried out by means that degrade Englishmen.'
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 PrincessElizabeth, Late Queen of England;[…], 3rd (revised) edition, London:[…] Thomas Harper, for Benjamin Fisher,[…],→OCLC, 1st book,page84:
But in the Lovver Houſe ſome there vvere vvhich handled theſe things more tumultuouſly, namely,Bell andMonſon, great Lavvyers,Dutton,Paul VVentvvorth, and others, vvhichtvvitted the Authority of the Queen's Majeſty too much,[…]
1995 December 5, Michelle Jackson, “Debutante/Question about Tori Shirts”, inrec.music.tori-amos[2] (Usenet):
However, on the Internet BBS's such as Quartz (now dead), Prism, Monsoon, Sunset, ect,[sic – meaningetc] someone pulling that kind of crap is likely to get flamed quite fast andtwitted before he/she can breathe.
2002 August 14, Marc Lewis, “FidoNet”, inalt.bbs[3] (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 purification program" that can filter out some folks[sic] obscene ideas that can be expressed w/o written vulgarities. That has to be simply "dealt" with, either by ignoring ortwitting the individual that offends habitually.
To blame or reproach, especially in a good-natured or teasing manner.
1611,Richard Sheldon,Certain General Reasons, Proving the Lawfulnesse of the Oath of Allegiance,[…], London:[…] Felix Kyngston[and Arnold Hatfield], forWilliam Aspley,→OCLC,page56:
[…][Francis]Coster a Ieſuit againſtLuke Oſiander, vvho obiecting out ofPeter Lombard thoſe vvords, (Credit oportet, It muſt be beleeued) that the bleſſed Virgins fleſh vvas conceiued in originall ſinne; and pretending by thoſe vvords, to proue a Catholike beliefe therein,Coſter thustvvitteth and retorteth againſt him;[…]
(transitive) to blame or reproach (someone), especially in a good-natured or teasing manner; (intransitive) to blame or reproach, especially in a good-natured or teasing manner—see alsoblame,reproach
1528 May 8 (date written; Gregorian calendar),John Strype, “[Appendix:[…].] Numb[er] XVII. The Confession of John Tyball a Lollard; Charges with Heresy.”, inEcclesiastical Memorials; Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of It: Shewing the Various Emergencies of the Church of England, under KingHenry the Eighth.[…], volume I, London:[…] John Wyat,[…], published1721,→OCLC,page38:
[T]he ſaydThomas Hilles & this Reſpondent ſhevvyd the FrearBarons of certayne old Bookes that they had: as of iiij Evangeliſtes, and certayne Epiſtles ofPeter &Poule inEngliſhe. VVhich Bookes the ſayd Frear dyd litle regard, and made atvvyte of it, & ſayd, A poynt for them, for they be not to be regarded tovvard the nevv printed Teſtament inEngliſhe.
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 notvvits of the good man / Departed; no preſcription pleaded for evil cuſtoms / On the VVedding night.
[S]he, beginning to despair of finally winning him, looked about for other consolations, not, however, without an occasionaltwit at him for disappointing her.
YoungStrephon he has Woo'd me long, / And Courted me with Pipe and Song; / But I a silly, silly peevishTwit, / 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 slipp'd my Maiden Prime.
Midnights bell goes ting, ting, ting, ting, ting, / Then dogs doe hovvle, and not a bird does ſing: / But the Nightingale, and ſhe criestvvit,tvvit,tvvit,tvvit, / Ovvles then on euerie bovve doe ſit.
1820, John Clare, “[Sonnets.] Crazy Nell. A True Story.”, inPoems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery, London:[…][T. Miller] forTaylor andHessey,[…]; and E[dward] Drury,[…],→OCLC,page210:
The minutes seem'd hours—with impatience she heard / The flap of a leaf, and thetwit of a bird;[…]
1819,James Thomson, “Verses Addressed to Mr John Wright, Tailor in Collington, on the Author’s Being Invited to the Wedding of Mr Joseph Thomson, Builder”, inPoems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, new edition, Leith, Edinburgh:[…] William Reid & Co. for the author,→OCLC,page27:
[I]s't a cursed wab o' yarn / That winna work, for knots andtwits, / Spun by some thoughtless drabby sluts, / Whase minds on naething else is carried, / But thinking when they will be married;[…]
, Oxford:Oxford University Press, September 2023;“twit2,v.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
twit (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia