▪ I. ˈtwanging, vbl. n.
[f. twang v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of twang v.1 in various senses.
| 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado, Poem to Cottoneers 204 Bradford..Stile it I might Banberry of the North..Famous for twanging, Ale, Zeale, Cakes and Cheese. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xli. (1869) II. 505 note, The twanging of the bow. 1831 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 284 Twanging of the true Poetic Lyre. 1832 Tennyson Kate i, Kate hath an unbridled tongue, Clear as the twanging of a harp. 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney I. 81 The loud twanging of an elderly gentleman's nose, who was fast asleep. 1904 19th Cent. Apr. 633 The drawn, nasal twangings of the Samisen. |
▪ II. ˈtwanging, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That twangs, in senses of the verb.
| 1567 Drant Horace, Art Poet. A vij, With the twanginge instrumente the singers voyce did matche. 1697 Dryden æneid v. 688 To shew An archer's art, and boast his twanging bow. 1784 Cowper Task iv. 1 Hark! 'tis the twanging horn. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. vii. 69 The sharp twanging snap of a cord. 1905 G. Thorne Lost Cause xi, The twanging accent of the United States, the guttural German, the purring, spitting Russian. |
† b. colloq. Exceptionally fine or good. Cf. stunning, ripping, etc. Obs.
| 1609 B. Jonson Sil. Wom. v. iii, O 'twill be full and twanging! |
Hence ˈtwangingly adv., in a twanging manner, with a twang; fig. successfully, with éclat (arch.).
| 1825 Scott Jrnl. 22 Dec., I wrote six of my close pages [of the Life of Napoleon] yesterday,..I think it comes off twangingly. The story is so very interesting in itself. 1825 ― Talism. xxvi, I like these rattling rolling Alexandrines; methinks they come more twangingly off to the music than that briefer measure. |