▪ I. twitchel1 dial.
(ˈtwɪtʃ(ə)l)
Forms: 5 twe-, twychel(l, twachylle, 8–9 twitchel, -ell.
[An alteration, or a variant with different suffix, of ME. twychen, late OE. twichene, OE. twycene, twicen a fork in a road, a forked way.
The form twychen survived in ME. times in Oxford in the names of special passages or lanes: see Wood City of Oxford (O.H.S.) I. viii. 187, 199, 223, etc., and Hurst Oxford Topogr. (O.H.S.) 186, 197. In Lanc. and Yorksh. the reduced form twitch is still in use. Cf. also twitten.]
A narrow passage between walls or hedges. In quot. c 1460 transf.
| 1435 Nottingham Rec. (1883) II. 357 Ye comon twechell yat lyges on ye northe syd ye Fleshusse. Ibid., Twychel. c 1460 MS. Laud 416 lf. 54 in Rel. Ant. II. 28 She..wyth her twachylle wille encrece and multeply. 1484 Nottingham Rec. (1883) III. 229 Þe dore..þat gothe into the twychell betwix þe Shaumelles and þe Draperie. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Twitchell, a narrow passage, or alley, not a thoroughfare. Derb. 1848 A. B. Evans Leicester. Words, Phrases, etc., Twitchell, a narrow passage or alley between houses. a 1889 Notice (Bedford) in N. & Q. 7th Ser. VII. 275/2 All persons passing by this twitchel are requested to go up or down directly. |
▪ II. ˈtwitchel2 dial.
[f. twitch n.1 or v.1]
A noose; spec. = twitch n.1 3 b. dial.
| 1688 [implied in twitchelling below]. 1841 [see twitch v.1 6 b]. 1882 Lanc. Gloss., Twitchel, a short wooden lever with a loop of rope fastened to one end; the rope is put round the lower jaw of an unruly horse, and the stick is twisted round. |
Hence ˈtwitchelled (ˈtwichelt) a., noosed, held in a noose; ˈtwitchelling, the taking of fish with a noose.
| 1688 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. Pref., The unlawful practice..of Damming, Groping, Spearing, Hanging, Twitchelling, [etc.]. 1855 E. Waugh Lanc. Life (1857) 31 He wacker't an' stare't like a twichelt dog. 1865 B. Brierley Irkdale II. 128 He geet how'd o' th' young womman, an' made her squeeal as leawd as a twitchelt gonner wi' th' squeeze he gan her. |