Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To pinch, pluck, or twist sharply.
  • intransitive verb To adjust; fine-tune.
  • intransitive verb To make fun of; tease.
  • intransitive verb To behave in an agitated or compulsive manner, especially when under the influence of a stimulant drug.
  • intransitive verb To be under the influence of a stimulant drug, especially methamphetamine.
  • noun A sharp, twisting pinch.
  • noun A small adjustment.
  • noun A teasing remark or action; a joke.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sharp pinch or jerk; a twitch.
  • noun A pinch; dilemma; perplexity: as, to be in a sad tweak. E. Phillips, 1706. Also tweag, tweague.
  • noun A prostitute.
  • noun A whoremonger.
  • To twitch; pinch and pull with or as with a sharp jerk; twinge.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.
  • noun obsolete Trouble; distress; tweag.
  • noun obsolete A prostitute.
  • transitive verb To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.
  • noun Trouble; distress; tweag.
  • noun A slight adjustment or modification.
  • noun obsolete, slang A prostitute.
  • verb transitive To pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist; to twitch.
  • verb transitive, informal To adjust slightly; to fine-tune.
  • verb transitive To twit or tease.
  • verb intransitive, US, slang To abuse methamphetamines, especially crystal meth.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a squeeze with the fingers
  • verb pinch or squeeze sharply
  • verb pull or pull out sharply
  • verb adjust finely

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably variant of dialectal twick, from Middle English twikken, from Old English twiccian.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English twikken, from Old English twiccian ("to pluck"), cognate with twitch.

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