twire

twire · verb, noun¹

1. Middle English · inherited fromtwiren“to peep out, pry about, twinkle, glance, gleam”
2. English todaytwire

From Middle English twiren (“to peep out, pry about, twinkle, glance, gleam”), cognate with Middle High German zwieren (“to spy”), Bavarian zwiren, zwieren (“to spy, glance”). Perhaps related to Old English twinclian (“to twinkle”). More at twinkle.

twire · noun²

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*duwo-“two”
2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*twiʀn“thread”
3. Old English · inherited from*twirn
4. Middle English · inherited from*twir
5. English todaytwire

From Middle English *twir, *twirn, twern, from Old English *twirn, *tweorn (“twine, thread”), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (“thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwo- (“two”). Doublet of twine.

twire · verb³

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*twer-“to turn, twirl, swirl, move”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*þweraną“to stir”
3. Old English · inherited fromþweran“to stir”
4. Middle English · inherited from*tweren
5. English todaytwire

Perhaps from a dialectal form of *twere, from Middle English *tweren, from Old English þweran (“to stir”) (found in compound āþweran (“to agitate, stir”)), from Proto-Germanic *þweraną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *twer- (“to turn, twirl, swirl, move”). Cognate with Bavarian zweren (“to stir”). Compare twirk, twirl.

twire · noun⁴

Variant of tuyere.

Words from the same roots