Twitch
[twɪtʃ]
Definition
(noun.) a sudden muscle spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition.
(verb.) make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion; 'his face is twitching'.
(verb.) move or pull with a sudden motion.
Editor: Sidney--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To pull with a sudden jerk; to pluck with a short, quick motion; to snatch; as, to twitch one by the sleeve; to twitch a thing out of another's hand; to twitch off clusters of grapes.
(n.) The act of twitching; a pull with a jerk; a short, sudden, quick pull; as, a twitch by the sleeve.
(n.) A short, spastic contraction of the fibers or muscles; a simple muscular contraction; as, convulsive twitches; a twitch in the side.
(n.) A stick with a hole in one end through which passes a loop, which can be drawn tightly over the upper lip or an ear of a horse. By twisting the stick the compression is made sufficiently painful to keep the animal quiet during a slight surgical operation.
Inputed by Celia
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Pull suddenly, snatch, jerk, yerk, pluck.
n. [1]. Jerk, quick pull.[2]. Spasm, twitching, sudden contraction (as of the muscles).
Typist: Randall
Definition
v.t. to pull with a sudden jerk: to pluck: to snatch.—v.i. to be suddenly jerked: to move spasmodically: to carp sneer.—n. a sudden quick pull: a spasmodic contraction of the muscles: a loop fixed to a stick for fixing on the upper lip of a refractory horse during shoeing &c.: the sudden narrowing almost to nothing of a vein of ore.—ns. Twitch′er; Twitch′ing.
Inputed by Elizabeth
Examples
- She was watching the fingers twitch across the eternal, mechanical, monotonous clock-face of time. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- His hand was still there as they saw the four horsemen ride out of the timber and he felt the muscles in Agustín's back twitch under his hand. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Did that nostril twitch? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Some agitated movement occasioned a twitch of the silken chain. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Fledgeby, watching him with a twitch in his mean face which did duty there for a smile, looked very like the tormentor who was pinching. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- His lips were thin, and though, as it seemed, compressed by thought, there was a pleasant twitch at their corners now and then. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Lydgate did not speak, but tossed his head on one side, and twitched the corners of his mouth in despair. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It twitched her nostrils open in a remarkable manner, and contracted her lips and eyebrows. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- She looked all round the room in a glaring manner, and then said, leaning on me while her hand twitched my shoulder, Come, come, come! Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- If the Major had twitched before, he started now, and slapped the bamboo on the ground with an emphasis which made Miss Clapp cry, Law, and laugh too. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- One leg was gone and the other was held by tendons and part of the trouser and the stump twitched and jerked as though it were not connected. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Not a muscle twitched, nor a tremor shook his giant frame as a soldier of the guard roughly stripped his gorgeous trappings from him. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- I am tickled and twitched all over. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- He pushed his face forward as he spoke and his lips and eyelids were continually twitching like a man with St. Vitus's dance. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Then he was quiet, biting his arm, the stump of his leg twitching. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- The deceased, you know, says Mr. Snagsby, twitching his head and right eyebrow towards the staircase and tapping his acquaintance on the button. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- And Laurie poked the fire to hide a little twitching of the lips that he could not control. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Oh, obscenity them, Primitivo said with an absolute devoutness of blasphemy, tears in his eyes and his cheeks twitching. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- His eyes were shut with pain, the edges of the lips twitching. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- And then quite suddenly it settled down, hobbled among the grass, and sat considering, its nose twitching like a bit of fluff in the wind. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
Edited by Henry