twire

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.

• tweer

twire (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)

1. (intransitive) To glance shyly or slyly; look askance; make eyes; leer; peer; pry.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     I saw the wench that twired and twinkled at thee.

   • Ben Jonson

     Which maids will twire 'tween their fingers.

2. (intransitive) To twinkle; sparkle; wink.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 28:

     When sparkling stars twire not, thou gild'st the even.

twire (plural twires)

1. A sly glance; a leer.

From Middle English *twir, *twirn, from Old English *twirn, *tweorn (“twine, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *twiznaz (“thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *duwo- (“two”). Cognate with Dutch tweern (“thread”), German Zwirn (“thread, twine”), Old English twīn (“twine”). More at twine.

twire (plural twires)

1. A twisted filament; a thread.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Locke to this entry?)

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 (third-person singular simple present twires, present participle twiring, simple past and past participle twired)

1. (transitive) To twist; twirl.

Variant of tuyere.

twire (plural twires)

1. (obsolete) A pipe through which the blast is delivered to the interior of a blast furnace, or to the fire of a forge; a tuyere.

• twier, write