twitter

See also: Twitter

English

Etymology

From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (to chirp; twitter). Cognate with German zwitzern, zwitschern (to twitter) and Low German twitteren (to twitter). Compare also Dutch kwetteren (to twitter), Danish kvidre (to twitter), Swedish kvittra (to twitter), dialectal Swedish tittra (to twitter).

Pronunciation

Noun

twitter (countable and uncountable, plural twitters)

  1. The sound of a succession of chirps as uttered by birds.
    I often listen to the twitter of the birds in the park.
  2. A tremulous broken sound.
  3. A slight trembling of the nerves.
  4. Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
    • 1986, IEEE, Second International Conference on Simulators: 7-11 September 1986 (page 145)
      Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.

Translations

Verb

twitter (third-person singular simple present twitters, present participle twittering, simple past and past participle twittered)

  1. (intransitive) To utter a succession of chirps.
  2. (intransitive, transitive) (of a person) To talk in an excited or nervous manner.
  3. To make the sound of a half-suppressed laugh; to titter; to giggle.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Fletcher to this entry?)
  4. To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To twit; to reproach or upbraid.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, [], OCLC 928184292:
      I have repented of it many’s the good time and oft. And if he was so good to forgive me a word spoken in haste or so, it doth not become such a one as you to twitter me. He was a husband to me, he was; and if ever I did make use of an ill word or so in a passion, I never called him rascal []
  6. Alternative form of Twitter
    • 2009 March 2, Michelle Levi, “McCain Criticizes Obama On The Senate Floor”, in CBS News, retrieved 2 March 2009:
      In addition to listing specific earmarks he finds the most reprehensible, McCain said he has been twittering the “top ten” most egregious

Synonyms

  • (internet neologism): tweet

Derived terms

Translations


French

Alternative forms

Etymology

From English Twitter

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /twi.te/

Verb

twitter

  1. (transitive, intransitive, Internet) to tweet (to post to Twitter)

Conjugation

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