Also 6 twange, twangue. [Echoic: the tw- element expresses the sound or noise of the twitching or plucking, the -ang element the ringing or resonance.]
1. A vocal imitation of the resonant sound produced when a tense string is sharply plucked or suddenly released; used as interjection or adverb, e.g., to cry twang, twang goes the bow. Also extended, † twangledon twang (obs.). Cf. TANG sb.2 b.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., II. i. (Arb.), 32. Then vp to our lute at midnight, twangledome twang, Then twang with our sonets, and twang with our dumps.
1596. Nashe, Saffron-Walden, Wks. (Grosart), III. 101. He … made Powles Churchyard resound, or crie twang againe, with foure notable famous Letters.
1600. Dekker, Shoemaker’s Holiday, III. iv. Ile fill your bellies with good cheare til they crie twang.
c. 1720. Prior, Advice of Venus, 4. Twang goes the bow, my Girls, have at your hearts.
a. 1741. Robin Hood & Ranger, ix., in Child, Ballads (1888), III. 153/1. He made his broad weapon cry twang.
1881. Besant & Rice, Chapl. of Fleet, II. 80. Twang, twang, twang, went the fiddles.
b. A sound of the above character; also, any sharp ringing sound resembling this. In quot. 1565 fig.
1565. T. Stapleton, Fortr. Faith, 8. To go to the matter alleaged directly without idle twanges.
1567. Drant, Horace, Art Poetry, B iij. With twang of harp to stir the stones.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., Wks. (Grosart), V. 159. None of them could make the cord come aloft with a twange halfe like him.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, IV. 143. The sinew forged string Did giue a mightie twang; and forth, the eager shaft did sing.
1728. Pope, Dunc., II. 254. So swells each wind-pipe; ass intones to ass, Harmonic twang of leather, horn, and brass.
1779. Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 133. The last twang of the postman’s bell.
1804. J. Grahame, Sabbath (1808), 65. The buzz … of moss-entangled bee, That, soon as loosed, booms with full twang away.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxiv. (1856), 196. The twang of a bow-string.
1858. R. S. Surtees, Ask Mamma, li. A twang of the horn.
fig. 1663. Cowley, Cutter Coleman-St., V. xiii. There should ha’ been … a lusty Cudgeling [at the end of the farce] to make it come off smartly, with a Twang at the Tail.
c. transf. and fig. Ringing sound or tone.
1646. G. Daniel, Poems, Wks. (Grosart), I. 89. When to the Twang of meeter, Poesie Shall fall to Sordid Groomes.
a. 1680. Butler, Elephant in Moon, II. 181. Transported with the Twang Of his own Elocution.
1714. R. Fiddes, Pract. Disc., II. 345. Great things have been done by the mere twang of two or three good words.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., ix. III. 168. His father-in-law … had just pitched his voice to the true poetical twang.
2. a. The modification of vocal sound by its passage through the nose; nasal intonation, as formerly attributed to the Puritans; now esp. as characterizing the pronunciation of an individual, a country, or locality. More fully nasal twang, twang of the nose.
1661. South, Serm., Tit. ii. 15. (1715), I. 201. To make … incoherent Stuff (seasoned with Twang and Tautology) pass for high Rhetorick, and moving Preaching.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. III. 1157. To find in lines of Beard and Face, The Physiognomy of Grace; And by the sound and twang of Nose, If all be sound within disclose.
1704. Swift, Mech. Operat. Spirit, Misc. (1711), 300. By this Method the Twang of the Nose becomes perfectly to resemble the Snuffle of the Bagpipe.
1784. Cowper, Task, II. 436. Odious as the nasal twang Heard at conventicle.
1839. Syd. Smith, Mem. & Lett. (1855), II. ccccxv. She … has the true Kentucky twang through the nose, converting that promontory into an organ of speech.
1877. Sweet, Handbk. Phonetics, 8. Many speakers pronounce all their vowels with imperfect closure of the nose passage, which gives their pronunciation the so-called ‘nasal twang.’
1902. R. Bagot, Donna Diana, ii. A wealthy American widow, the owner of a pronounced twang.
b. A distinctive manner of pronunciation or intonation differing from that usual, or regarded as the standard, in a country; esp. one associated with a particular district or locality.
In some of the earlier instances the fig. notion of ‘a smack’ is perhaps intended: cf. TWANG sb.2 2.
1697. Bentley, Phal. (1699), 313. Phalaris … must needs, for that reason, have a twang of their Dialect.
1705. Elstob, in Hearne, Collect., 30 Nov. (O.H.S.), I. 109. I’ll make you Master of ye Gallick Twang.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Twang,… an ill sound in one’s Pronunciation.
1707. Farquhar, Beaux Strat., III. ii. You talk very good English, but you have a mighty Twang of the Foreigner.
1725. trans. Dupin’s Eccl. Hist. 17th C., I. II. iii. 35. His Italian has a twang of the Country in which he liv’d.
1736. Drake, Eboracum, I. vii. 242. The broad open accent, and twang, of the more northern [people].
1781. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, Aug. The Hibernian twang of his pronunciation.
1822. Scott, Nigel, ii. His voice had a twang in it.
1852. Thackeray, Esmond, III. v. A grating voice that had an Irish twang. Ibid., viii. This family … spoke French with the twang which the Flemings use.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., III. ii. § 19 (1864), 485. By ‘accent’ I understand that indescribable accompaniment with the voice, termed also ‘twang’ or ‘brogue’ … which constitutes the indelible distinction between English, Irish, Scotch, Americans, French, &c.
1867. Miss Braddon, Aur. Floyd, xxx. They talked with an honest northern twang.
1883. Gd. Words, 12. You must not be too near them, or you will hear the Cockney twang.
3. transf. A ringing or resounding blow. Cf. TWANK v. rare.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 504, ¶ 1. These can slap you on the back unawares,… ask you how you do with a twang on your shoulders.
1843. Lytton, Last Bar., I. i. The leathern gauntlet that protected the arm from the painful twang of the string.
4. transf. A sharp pluck or twitch; a tweak; also, the effect of this: a twinge, a sharp pang. Now dial.
1720. Lett. Lond. Jrnl. (1721), 29. A Kick in the Breech, or a Twang by the Nose.
1723. Ramsay, Fair Assembly, xvi. ’T wad gi’e your hearts a twang! Ibid. (1728), To G. Drummond, ix. Few twangs of guilt they feel.
1789. Burns, To the Toothache, i. Your venom’d stang, That shoots my tortur’d gums alang; And thro’ my lugs gies monie a twang.
1825. Brockett, N. C. Words, Twang, a quick pull, a tweak—also pain.
1852. Tomlinson’s Cycl. Usef. Arts (1866). I. 836/1. He then … gives repeated and sudden twangs to the string [in bowing furs for hats].
