▪ I. twite
(twaɪt)
[Imitative, from the note of the bird.]
A species of linnet, Linota flavirostris or L. montium, found in hilly and moorland districts in the northern parts of Britain and in Scandinavia, and elsewhere as a winter visitant; also called Mountain Linnet or twite-finch.
| 1562 Turner Baths Pref., Flockinge byrdes..linnettes, goldfinches, sparrowes and twyes [? twytes]. 1676 Grew Musæum, Anat. Stomach & Guts viii. 36 The Twite or Avicula Anadavadensis. 1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 282 note, The London bird-catchers also sell..the yellow hammer, twite and brambling as singing birds. 1815 Stephens in Shaw Gen. Zool. IX. 521 Twite Finch. 1876 Smiles Sc. Natur. xiii. (ed. 4) 260 The Twite..bred in suitable localities round the loch. 1894 R. B. Sharpe Handbk. Birds Gt. Brit. I. 43 The Twite is a moorland species... In winter it migrates south in large flocks, which frequent the neighbourhood of the coast, and enliven the marshes with their twittering song. |
▪ II. twite
obs. or dial. form of twit v.