prefix. [OE. twi- = OFris. twi-, MLG. twi-, MDu. twe-, Du. twee-, OHG. zwi-, Ger. zwie-, ON. tví-, Norw., Sw., Da. tve-; cognate with Skr. dvi-, Gr. δι, L. bi-, Lith. dvi-, from root akin to Skr. dwau, dwē, Gr. δύο, L. duo, TWO. In OE. the regular comb. form expressing two, sometimes twice.]
a. In parasynthetic comb. with sb. + -ED2, forming adjs. with the sense ‘having two…,’ ‘two … -ed,’ as twi- (or twy-)arched, -clustered, -coloured, -eared, -faced, flamed, -gated, -headed, -linked, -mouthed, -natured, -necked, -peaked, -pointed, -shaped (see also twi-banked, etc. in e); also with sb. simply, in the same sense, as twi-top adj. (see also twiform in e). b. With adj. or pple. in sense ‘in two ways or respects, doubly,’ as tri- (twy-) streaming, -yoked. c. With sb. in sense ‘twofold, double,’ as twi-circle, -reason (see also twi-car, etc. in e). d. In sense ‘twice’ or ‘a second time,’ as twi-(twy-)born adj. (see also twichild in e). e. Special Combs.: twi-banked a., having two banks of oars; twi-car, used by W. Morris to represent Gr. δίφρος chariot (properly ‘the chariot-board, on which two could stand,’ L. & Sc.); twichild (twy-) (obs. exc. dial.), one who is ‘twice a child,’ an old man in his second childhood; also, (one’s) second childhood; also as adj.; twifoil (twy-), Her. = DUFOIL; twi-forked (twy-) a., divided in two like a fork, bifurcate; twiform, -formed (twy-) adjs., having a double form; formed of two (esp. different or incongruous) parts (in quot. 1703, having some part double); twi-life (nonce-wd. after twilight), a life marked by indistinct perception or consciousness; twi-minded a., ? having two minds or thoughts (about something); considering (it) in two ways or aspects; twy-prong, a two-pronged fork; twi-thought (nonce-wd. after twilight), an indistinct or vague thought; † twi-wifing, bigamy. See also TWIBILL, TWIBIT, TWIFALLOW, TWIFOLD, TWILIGHT, TWIREDE, TWISPECHE.
1903. Westm. Gaz., 22 Aug., 2/1. A *twi-arched bridge of stone.
1875. Morris, Æneid, VIII. 79. Two *twi-banked keels.
1908. G. Murray, Euripides’ Hippolytus, 30. That Mother fair Of *Twy-born Bacchus.
1887. Morris, Odyss., XV. 75. But abide till I bring to thy *twi-car the gifts.
c. 1580. Jefferie, Bugbears, I. iii. 69, in Archiv Stud. Neu. Spr. (1897), XCVIII. 313. O my *twichild and my babye!
1656. W. D. trans., Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 199. Old men are said to grow children again, and to bee twichilde.
1829. Southey, Oliver Newman, vi. Encumber’d with a twichild man.
1889. Gissing, Both of this Parish, xxiii. II. 175. I thought it was but a deception o’ my twichild, for I be getting aged.
1895. F. Thompson, Sister Songs, 13. In *twi-circle o’er the grass.
a. 1834. Coleridge, The Pang more sharp, ii. Babe … From its *twy-cluster’d hiding-place of snow.
1903. Academy, 18 July, 56/1. A *twi-coloured thread, red and white.
1904. Farrer, Garden Asia, 270. Little twy-coloured bubbles.
1879. Butcher & Lang, Odyssey, 359. A … *twy-eared chalice or gold.
1635. Quarles, Embl., V. xiv. 40. Wry-mouth’d disdaine,… And *twy-fac’d Fraud.
1875. Morris, Æneid, XII. 198. Twi-faced Janus.
1822. T. G. Wainewright, Ess. & Crit. (1880), 298. The *twi-flamed torch.
1688. *Twyfoile [see DUFOIL].
c. 1828. Berry, Encycl. Her., I. Gloss., Twyfoil or Dufoil.
1891. Cent. Dict., Twifoil.
1635. Quarles, Embl., II. xiii. 10. Her flaming head, *Twy-forked with death.
1639. G. Daniel, Ecclus., xxvii. 60. A Twi-forkt Iavelin doth divide his heart.
1658. Bromhall, Treat. Specters, IV. 258. Ioves twy-forked lightning.
1738. Gentl. Mag., VIII. 375/1. Twi-fork’d Malvern with his tow’ring height.
1812. Cary, Dante, Purg., XXXII. 95. The wain … Bound to the *twyform beast.
1907. F. Thompson, Ode Setting Sun. Thou twi-form deity.
1607. J. Davies, Summa Totalis, H iij. This huge *twy-form’d Fabrick.
1703. T. N., City & C. Purchaser, 7. Twiform’d Creatures, as … a Serpent with a Head at each end; the Spread Eagle with 2 Heads.
1852. Kingsley, Andromeda, 58. Twyformed, many-handed, terrible, shapeless.
1887. Bowen, Æneid, VI. 25. *Twiformed Minotaur, two bodies combined.
1573. Twyne, Æneid, X. D d j. In parliment house they sat *twigated wyde.
1895. Month, June, 237. Illustrations of the eagle both single and *twi-headed.
1889. Lowell, in Atlantic Monthly, LXIV. 146. This illusion … That witches us to hear and see As in a *twi-life what it will.
1875. Morris, Æneid, XII. 375. His *twilinked coat of mail.
1883. G. Meredith, Earth & Man, xliv. *Twi-minded of him, as the waxing tree, Or dated leaf.
1875. Morris, Æneid, IX. 617. To hear the flute’s *twi-mouthed song.
1868. Tennyson, Lucretius, 194. A satyr,… but him I proved impossible; *Twy-natured is no nature.
1879. F. W. H. Myers, in 19th Cent., June, 959. That strange antithesis in the ‘twy-natured’ French.
1840. Browning, Sordello, IV. 388. The Kaiser’s ominous sign-mark … The crowned, grim, *twy-necked eagle.
1905. Edin. Rev., April, 319. A *twy-peaked monticule.
1623. Lisle, Ælfric on O. & N. Test., Ded. 1. *Twi-pointed Pernas hill.
1840. Browning, Sordello, III. 1019. That’s no *twy-prong, but a pastoral cross. Ibid. (1884), Ferishtah, Camel-Drivers, 51. This red-hot twy-prong.
1632. B. Jonson, Magn. Lady, III. v. You shall pardon me For a *twi-reason of State.
1907. F. Thompson, New Poems, Hermes, 188. Behold, with rod *twy-serpented Hermes, the prophet.
1875. Morris, Æneid, VI. 286. *Twi-shaped Scyllas.
1794. Coleridge, Relig. Musings, 204. Property … *twy-streaming fount, Whence Vice and Virtue flow, honey and gall.
1885. G. Meredith, Diana, xxiv. Diana saw herself through the haze she conjured up. ‘Am I worse than other women?’ was a piercing *twi-thought.
1622. Wither, Fair Virtue, E ij. The *twy-top Hill, Where the Poets learne their skill.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 450. Bigamie … On engleis tale, *twie-wifing.
1875. Morris, Æneid, XII. 164. With *twiyoked horses white.
