twit

Originally the past tense of twite, an aphetic form of atwite.

• IPA^(key): /twɪt/, [tʰw̥ɪt]

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt
• Homophone: TWT

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

1. (transitive) To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease.
   • 1590, Shakespeare, History of Henry VI, Part II, Act III, Scene I:

     "Hath he not twit our sovereign lady here
     With ignominious words, though clerkly couch'd,
     As if she had suborned some to swear
     False allegations to o'erthrow his state? " -

   • 1836, Joanna Baillie, Romiero, act 3, page 55:

     "Nay, do not twit me now with all the freaks,
     And levities, and gambols charged upon me
     By every lean-faced dame that wears a hood."

   • 1887, New Zealand. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, page 499:

     The honourable member for Ellesmere, on the opening of this session, got up and twitted them with not being there on the first day.

   • 1955, Rex Stout, "When a Man Murders...", in Three Witnesses, October 1994 Bantam edition, →ISBN, page 106:

     Mr. Cramer, a policeman, came this morning and twitted me for having let a murderer hoodwink me.

   • 1962 August, “Talking of Trains: Under their hats”, in Modern Railways, page 80:

     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.

   • 2007, Bernard Porter, "Did He Puff his Crimes to Please a Bloodthirsty Readership?", review of Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest Explorer by Tim Jeal, London Review of Books, 5 April, 29:7, p. 10

     H. R. Fox Bourne, secretary of the Aborigines' Protection Society – often twitted for being an ‘armchair critic’ – wrote in a review of one of Stanley's books […]

   • 1671, John Tillotson, “Sermon II. The Folly of Scoffing at Religion. 2 Pet[er] III. 3.”, in 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 […], and J[acob] Tonson] […], published 1720, →OCLC:

     This […] these scoffers twitted the Christian with.

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

     Aesop minds Men of their Errors, without Twitting them for what is Amiss.

2. (transitive, computing) To ignore or killfile (a user on a bulletin board system).
   • 1995, Michelle Jackson, “Debutante/Question about Tori Shirts”, in rec.music.tori-amos (Usenet):

     However, on the Internet BBS's such as Quartz (now dead), Prism, Monsoon, Sunset, ect^[sic], someone pulling that kind of crap is likely to get flamed quite fast and twitted before he/she can breathe.

   • 2002, Chris Hoppman, “FidoNet Feed Needed”, in alt.bbs (Usenet):

     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 or twitting the individual that offends habitually.

twit (plural twits)

1. A reproach, gibe or taunt.
2. A foolish or annoying person.
   • 1988, Larry Kramer, Just Say No:

     What do you mean, since when did I become such a radical fairy? Since I started knowing twits like you, you twit!

3. A person who twitters, i.e. chatters inanely.

• In the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand the word "twit" for a person is usually used in a humorous or affectionate manner.

• See also Thesaurus:fool

• twitling

• twit-twat (etymologically unrelated?)

• Witt

• IPA^(key): /twit/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (CAN)

  (file)

twit m (plural twits)

1. (Quebec, colloquial) twit (foolish person)
2. a tweet (a message on Twitter)

   Synonym: tweet

• (Twitter): twitter

From English tweet.

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʷɪt̚/
• Hyphenation: twit

twit (first-person possessive twitku, second-person possessive twitmu, third-person possessive twitnya)

1. (Internet) Tweet, an entry posted on the microblogging service Twitter.

   Synonyms: cuitan, kicauan

• “twit” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.

twit m (plural twits)

1. Nonstandard spelling of tuit. (tweet, message on Twitter)

twit (definite accusative twiti, plural twitler)

1. Alternative form of tweet (message on Twitter)