Also 8 tweague, 8–9 tweag. [f. TWEAK v.]
1. An act of tweaking; a sharp wringing pull; a twitch, a pluck.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., IV. v. Hee will … make you beare a blow, ouer the mouth,… tweakes by the nose, sans numbre.
1716. Addison, Drummer, V. i. He has given my shoulder such a cursed tweak.
1738. Common Sense, II. 106. They may be drawn out of their Sockets with a moderate Tweag.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb., VI. vii. (1861), 216. [He] was courteously dismissed with a tweak of the nose, to assist him in recollecting his message.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xxiv. A severe tweak of the ear.
1883. Mag. of Art, June, 309/2. Tweaks and slaps and pinches.
† 2. fig. a. In phrase in a tweak, in a state of excitement or agitation, in a ‘taking.’ Obs.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Tweak, in a Tweak, in a heavy taking,… very angry.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Tweag or Tweak, Perplexity, Trouble; as To be in a sad Tweak.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, III. vi. This put the old fellow in a rare tweag [ed. 1755 tweague]!
1755. Johnson, Tweague, Tweak, perplexity: ludicrous distress. A low word.
1779. Warner, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1844), IV. 12. What a tweague and a taking you would be in.
1841. Hartshorne, Salopia Antiqua, 602. ‘To be in a tweag’ is a phrase of long standing, and not peculiarly dialectical.
b. dial. See quots.
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Tweak, a sharp, severe attack of illness—‘a pinch.’
1886. Darlington, S. Chesh. Gloss., Tweak,… a sharp, severe pain.
