▪ I. twitching, vbl. n.1
(ˈtwɪtʃɪŋ)
[f. twitch v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of the verb twitch; jerking, plucking; nipping; convulsive or spasmodic movement; (see also quot. 1980). attrib.
| 1607 Markham Caval. i. xviii. (1617) 75 Let them which haue hold vpon the halter, with twitchings and strainings torment him. 1626 Bacon Sylva §37 Almost all Purgers have a kind of Twitching and vellication besides the griping which commeth of winde. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. i. xxxiii. (1834) I. 241 A man, who should find a troublesome twitching in his muscles, would do very wrong to destroy the tone of them. 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts VII. 189 Model of a machine for twitching of wool. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 480 Starting tremors, convulsive twitchings are frequent. 1831 Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) II. 189 An occasional twitching up of the corners of the upper lip, and point of the nose. 1872 M. Creighton Hist. Ess. ii. (1902) 101 His suffering was known only by..the twitching of his lips. 1881 Trans. Obstet. Soc. Lond. XXII. 20 The twitching attacks do not recur periodically and their duration is variable. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 589 The patient complains of..twitching of the extremities. 1980 [see twitcher 4]. |
† b. concr. See quot. Obs. rare.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 300/1 Twitchings, the ends of Nails cut off, as of Horse-shooe Nails. |
Add: c. The activity of a ‘twitcher’ (sense 4); obsessive or enthusiastic bird-watching for rarities.
| 1977 New Society 17 Nov. 341/3 Sibe is twitching slang for a Siberian bird. 1980 L. Brown in Howard & Moore Compl. Checklist Birds of World p. vii, Merely ticking a bird off on a list—twitching, as the vulgar parlance has it. 1988 Bird Watching Aug. 28/1 The desire to see a bird new to one's experience is a natural one, but ‘twitching’ seems to have now reached an unprecedented peak. |
▪ II. twitching, vbl. n.2
see twitch v.3