twiner
(ˈtwaɪnə(r))
[f. twine v.1 + -er1.]
1. One who or that which twines; esp. one who or a machine which twines or spins thread: see quot. 1891.
| 1611 Cotgr., Retordeur, a twister, twiner; a wrester, a retorter. 1708 Sewell ii, Twynder, a twiner, throster. |
| 1864 Jeffrey Hist. Roxburghshire IV. ii. 117 In 1810 the twiner was invented by William Johnstone, Galashiels. 1885 Pall Mall G. 7 Oct. 7/2 The Huddersfield operative cotton twiners, after being out on strike.. resumed work yesterday. 1891 Labour Commission Gloss., Twiners, operative spinners who double yarn which has been spun by the common spinners. |
2. A plant of twining habit.
| 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 32 Schizandra is scarcely a twiner. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. vii. (1880) 198 Plants became twiners..by the increase of a tendency to slight and irregular revolving movements. 1885 G. L. Goodale Physiol. Bot. (1892) 405 Twiners are distinguished from proper climbers by the absence of any special organs, other than the stem itself for grasping supports. |