Obs. [f. TWAIN a. or sb.] trans. To part or divide in twain; to put apart, separate.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 251. Fro we in twynne wern towen & twayned, I haf ben a Ioylez Iuelere.
15[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks. Soc.), I. 20 (Add. MS.). Nowe will I make the firmamente,… For to be a devidente To twayne [Harl. MS. 2124 twyne] the watters. Ibid., II. 151. My people of Jewes he wulde twayne.
? 17[?]. Clerk Saunders, xii., in Child, Ballads (1886), II. 159. It wear great sin this twa to twain.
1878. B. Taylor, Deukalion, III. vi. Who twains What once was one.
1900. Crockett, Joan Sw. Hand, xxxix. You may slay my husband, but he is mine still. You cannot twain our souls.
b. intr. for refl. or pass. To separate.
15[?]. Chester Pl. (Shaks Soc.), I. 18 (Add. MS.). Lightnes and darcknes, I byde you tweyne [Harl. MS. 2124 twyn; rhymes begin, myn, in].
