twig

plural twigs

1. A small thin branch of a tree or bush.

   They used twigs and leaves as a base to start the fire.

   1 more example

   A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.

   1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC

2. slangbodybuildingSomebody, or one of their body parts, not looking developed.

   Schwarzenegger was long past his professional bodybuilding days when he and Carrere shot the tango scene, but he wasn’t a twig.

   2022 July 19, Jason Rossi, “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Most Dangerous Mistake on ‘True Lies’: ‘It Would Have Put Us Back 30 Days in the Production’”, in Showbiz CheatSheet

   1 more example

   You need to find a source of motivation and play off of that. Whether it be the jock in high school that always called you fat, or the guy who picked on you and called you a twig.

   2007 February 24, Matt Weik, CSCS, “Successful Tips and Tricks For Contest Prep!”, in Bodybuilding.com, archived from the original on 16 Feb 2024

present singular third person twigs · participle present twigging · participle past twigged · past twigged

1. transitiveTo beat with twigs.

present singular third person twigs · participle present twigging · participle past twigged · past twigged

1. colloquialregionalTo realise something; to catch on; to recognize someone or something.

   He hasn't twigged that we're planning a surprise party for him.

   4 more examples

   I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.

   1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35

   I twigged him at once, by the description you gave me. I never see a cove togged out as he was,—tall hat, light sit-down-upons, and a short coat—wasn't it cut short! but in really bang-up style.

   J'y ai reconnu le particulier que vous m'avez dit. Bien vêtu, ma foi! Chapeau rogné, tout plat, pantalon clair, en fourreau de parapluie, veston court, oh! mais d'un court... enfin, le dernier genre.

   1915, “Putting on the Screw”, in Caught in the Net, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, translation of Les Esclaves de Paris by Émile Gaboriau, page 23

   Well, with fewer people doing two or three times the work, you may have already twigged to this.

   2012 May 30, John E. McIntyre, “A future for copy editors”, in Baltimore Sun, archived from the original on 23 Jun 2013

   At this point in our story, we first meet the fleet repair ship Kamchatka, who everyone would soon become regrettably familiar with. Her entry into our account here was her signal that she was under attack by torpedo boats! When she was asked how many, she replied "about eight, from all directions!". Eventually, someone twigged to the fact that absolutely nobody else could see so much as a seagull, let alone any exceptionally-lost Japanese torpedo boats. And, when nothing actually happened, Kamchatka refused to say that it was a false alarm, only that it had altered course and the torpedo boats had gone away.

   2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 18:23 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned, archived from the original on 29 Jan 2023

   Synonyms: clock

2. intransitiveTo be realized and understood; to click.

   As the photographer took a couple of preliminary photographs of Mandy, Marcus seized the moment. He knelt behind her. When Mandy turned around, she was initially confused. Then it twigged – he was proposing.

   2023 October 26, Francesca Street, “Two strangers moved into an apartment in Prague. Then they fell in love”, in CNN Travel

   1 more example

   Dries had told us to bring at least twenty litres of water because there was no water in camp and very few tourists stayed there. I knew I wouldn't get a shower for three days, but I wasn't worried about that. It hadn't twigged that the reason we needed to bring our own water was that the camp itself was a warzone.

   2009, Tammie Matson, Elephant Dance

3. To understand the meaning of (a person); to comprehend.

   Do you twig me?

   Synonyms: fathom, figure out, grasp, ken, work out

4. To observe slyly; also, to perceive; to discover.

   Now twig him; now mind him: mark how he hawls his muscles about.

   1763, Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garratt, act 2

   1 more example

   This excellent man appears to have sunk into himself in a sitting posture, […] while his exceedingly homely and wrinkled face, held a little on one side, twinkles at you with the shrewdest complacency, as if he were looking right into your eyes and twigged something there which you had half a mind to conceal from him.

   1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home

   Synonyms: check out, peep, spy on, surveil

present singular third person twigs · participle present twigging · participle past twigged · past twigged

1. ScotlandobsoleteTo pull

   Frank shall twig your Nose from your Face

   1755, John Shebbeare, Lydia: Or, Filial Piety

2. To twitch
3. To tweak