thwite, v. Obs. exc. dial.
(θwaɪt)
Forms: 1 þwitan, þweoton; 4–7 thwyte, (7– dial.) thwite, (4–5 twhyte, 5 twyte, 6 thwight, 9 dial. tweet, twet, toight). pa. pple. 4–5 thwyten, 6 thwytten, thweten, 6–7 thwitten; 5–7 thwyted, 6–7 thwitted, 5– thwited. See also white v.
[OE. þw{iacu}tan (*þwát, þwiten) to cut, cut off; not recorded elsewhere; but ON. had derivatives in þveita small axe, þvita a kind of axe, þveit, þveiti cut-off piece, parcel of land, thwaite. In mod.Sc. and north. dial. the word has become quhyte, hwite, white, in Aberdeen fite. See also thwittle, whittle.]
trans. To cut down, whittle, pare, shave; to shape by paring; to cut away. Also fig. Phrase, to thwite a mill-post (etc.) to a pudding-prick.
| a 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. iii. xiv. [xvii.] (1890) 204 ᵹe[a] eac swylce of þære ilcan styðe sponas þweoton & sceafþan nomon [v.r. ðæt ᵹeþwit naman]. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 292 ᵹenim þone neowran wyrttruman delf up, þwit niᵹon sponas on ða winstran hand. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 933 That other bowe..was peynted wel and thwyten [MS. twythen, Thynne thwitten]. c 1384 ― H. Fame iii. 848 Somme [twigs] weren white Whiche as men to these cages thwite [v.rr. thwyte, twhyte] Or maken of these panyers. a 1500 in Arnolde Chron. (1811) 170 The ende of the graff that was vpward next the firmament must be thweten lyke the neder of a comon graffe. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. Wks. 236/2 Here was a gret post wel thwyted to a pudding pricke. 1575 Brieff Disc. Troub. Franckford (1846) 157 It nippeth and thwitethe awaie a great deale off that liberalitie, which might come to us. a 1601 Sir T. Fanshawe Pract. Exch. (1658) 112 The Cutter of the Tallyes..provideth a..hasell for the Tallies..and doth somewhat thwite every stick thereof into four square sides. 1674 Ray N.C. Words, To Thwite, to whittle, cut, make white by cutting. 1897 Shetland News 24 July (E.D.D.), A placid roadman ‘tweetin’ the grass in the ditches with a scythe. |
b. intr. To whittle. Now dial.
| c 1475 Babees Bk. l. 179 Kutte nouhte youre mete eke as it were Felde men..They ne rekke..how vngoodly they on theyre mete twyte. 1863 Lanc. Fents, New Shirt 5 After ‘thwiting’ at the topmost bar of the gate till he had made it look almost like a new one. 1870 E. Waugh Winter Fire iii. 24 Let these lads thwite at it [beef] a bit. |
Hence ˈthwiting vbl. n.; thwiting-knife, ? a paring or scraping knife used by bowyers.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ix. 199 In þresshynge, in þecchyng, in thwytynge of pynnes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 493/1 Thwytynge, or telwynge, sectulatus, abscidula, abscindula. 1659 Howell Vocab. li, A thwitting knife, nocksaws, a rasp, a riper, a share, a baldock, &c., gli stromenti dell arciero [the tools of the bowyer]. |