Forms
- Plural
- twitters
- present (v1)
- past (v2)
- twittered
- past participle (v3)
- twittered
- present participle
- twittering
- 3rd person singular
- twitters
Definitions
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.Unwanted flicker that occurs in interlaced displays when the image contains vertical detail that approaches the horizontal resolution of the video format.
- Interline twitter occurs on interlaced displays at half the field-rate.
3.A tremulous broken sound.
4.A slight trembling of the nerves.
1.To utter a succession of chirps.
2.(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.
- Oh, the young handsom wenches, how they twitter'd, / When they but saw me shake my ware, and sing too!
4.To have a slight trembling of the nerves; to be excited or agitated.
Frequency
Overall
Uncommon· #2583
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Uncommon
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Etymology
From Middle English twitren, twiteren, from Old English *twiterian, from Proto-West Germanic *twitwiʀōn, from Proto-Germanic *twitwizōną (“to chirp; twitter”).
Cognate with Low German twitteren (“to twitter”), German zwitzern, zwitschern (“to twitter”).