Forms: 1 adj. twinn, (sb. pl. ʓetwinnas, 3 itwinnes), 3–6 twynne, 3–7 twinne, 4 tuine, Sc. twene, 4–5 tuynne, 4–5 (6 Sc.) twyne, 4 (6 Sc.) tuin, tuinne, tuyne, 4–7 twyn, 5–7 twine, 6 twynn, 7 twinn, 3– twin. [OE. twinn adj. (rare), ʓetwinn adj. and sb., f. the stem of TWI-. Cf. OFris. twina, twine (NFris. twĕne, twăne) two together, ON. tvinnr, tvennr double, (pl.) two, two pairs of, Norw. tvinne, tvenne, Da. tvende two. In northern ME. perhaps partly or mainly from ON.: cf. THRIN a.]
A. adj.
† 1. Consisting of two; twofold, double. Obs. (exc. as in 4).
c. 1000. in Napier, O. E. Glosses, I. 1836. Gemina, .i. duppla, twinnum. Ibid., 2605–6. Geminis concentibus, twinnum sangum.
c. 1200. Ormin, 7737–9. Ȝho brohhte twinne lac, Forr … her iss twinne lufe sett Bitwenenn menn onn eorþe; Forr uss birrþ lufenn Godd & mann.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 485. [Lamech sinned in] Twin-wifing ant twin manslaȝt.
1357. Lay Folks Catech., 508. This is principaly done opon twyn wise.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (Prose), 5. Of twine maner at lere his discipilis … at serue god: baþe in word and dede.
† 2. Two; a pair of…; the two, both. Obs.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3248. Ðe water up-stod … On twinne half. Ibid., 4020. Heft haueð he mad her .vii. alter, And on ilc brend eft twin der.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 523 (Cott.). His heued with in has eien tuin. Ibid., 5235. Ioseph had þan suns tuin, Manassen and effraim. Ibid., 9136. His eild was fourti yeir and tuin. Ibid., 21750. Þe laghes tuin sal þou find sua.
3. (attrib. use of B. 1.) Born at the same birth, as two children or animals, or one of such. See also TWIN-BROTHER, -SISTER.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., V. i. 350. He, and I, And the twin Dromio.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 313. A … twin-lamb.
1751. Warburton, Pope’s Ep. Burlington, 117, note. These groves … can express themselves only like twin-ideots by nods.
1822. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., II. 191. By the twin-gods I vow.
1847. W. C. L. Martin, The Ox, 40/2. Every twin female … is not necessarily barren, even when the other calf is a male.
4. Forming a pair or couple; two closely associated, connected, or related, and (usually) alike or equal. (In quot. 1601 said of one thing cut in half; in quot. 1776 loosely of more than two.)
In this sense, and in senses b, d, and 5, often hyphened to the noun (cf. the combinations under C), or occasionally written as one word with it.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 64. Th’ Elements, twin-twins (two sons, two daughters) To wit, the Fire, the Aire; the Earth, and Waters.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., V. i. 230. An apple cleft in two, is not more twin Then these two creatures.
1614. Sylvester, Du Bartas, 617. Those twin-Princes [the sun and moon] … Began their Kingdoms over day and night.
1673. [R. Leigh], Transp. Reh., 131. Therefore are the twin-diseases deservedly associated.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, III. xxix. 96. Perhaps some kinder gale, While the twin stars appear, shall fill my joyful sail.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 20. When you meet with twin fruit, take off the least of them with all possible care not to shake the other.
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, 163. The seven twin-mountains tremble at the sound.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend, I. xv. (1865), 207. These twin truths, or rather … this one great truth considered in its two principal bearings.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 117. The leather must … be pierced with twin holes for each double tooth.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Twin-screws, a pair of screw-propellers on separate shaft[s], and having right-handed and left-handed twists respectively.
1898. J. T. Fowler, Durham Cath., 38. Twin shafts of Purbeck marble.
b. Composed of, or having, two similar and equal (or closely connected or related) parts or constituents; consisting of two joined in one.
Twin boat, steam-engine, value: see quots. c. 1816, 1875. Twin crystal: = B. 3 b. Twin earthquake: see quot. 1906.
1585. Jas. I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 35. Let Christ both God and man your Twinrock [orig. croupe iumelle] be.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Kent (1662), II. 86. An Ingenuous Yeoman in this County … hath two Ploughs fastened together so finely, that he plougheth two furrows at once, one under another,… this device of a Twinne-Plough.
1805–16. R. Jameson, Char. Min. (ed. 2), 220. A crystal … composed of two halves of one … crystal, of which the one-half appears to be turned round. Example, Twin-crystal of felspar.
c. 1816. Rees, Cycl., s.v. Steam-Engine, In 1811 and 1812 two steam-boats were built … as ferry-boats for crossing the Hudson river. These boats are what are called twin-boats; each of them being two complete hulls united by a deck or bridge.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., IV. xlvi. 286. Double Ocellus (Ocellus geminatus). When two ocelli are included in the same circle or spot…. Twin Ocellus (Ocellus didymus). When such ocelli join each other.
1848. Rickman, Archit., 152. They may be called twin-windows, consisting of two single lights coupled together.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2667. A large twin channel steamer … has lately been put upon the Dover and Calais ferry. Ibid., 2668. Twin Steam-engine,… a duplex engine; one in which two engines, complete in their parts, are associated in a single effort. Ibid., Twin-valve, a form of valve attached to the discharge outlet of a pump … used for making a double connection, one with the steam-boiler … and the other … for conducting water wherever desired.
1906. 19th Cent., March, 465. To earthquakes of this description the name of ‘twin’ has been given, because the double shock is due to two distinct impulses resulting from a single generative effort.
1910. D. W. Thompson, trans. Aristotle’s Hist. Anim., 562. In some twin eggs a thin partition of white intervenes to prevent the yolks mixing.
c. Nat. Hist. Growing or occurring in pairs; geminate.
1812. New Bot. Gard., I. 26. The anthers twin and erect.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 130. Seeds solitary or twin.
1891. Cent. Dict., Twin … 1. a. … 6. In entom., geminate: applied to spots, punctures, spines, etc., which are close together in pairs.
d. Pertaining to two (persons or things) in close connection.
1827. Southey, Devil’s Walk, v. Such a twin-likeness there was in the pair.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 174. Their twinlife seemed so piteous.
5. Forming one of a pair or couple; closely associated with or related to another.
1605. Chapman, All Fools, III. i. Here comes the twyn-Courtier his companion.
1781. Cowper, Hope, 102. Yesterday’s face twin image of to-day.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, III. iii. True sentiment … is twin with melancholy.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., Introd. 1. Having in a twin volume treated of Gardening as an Art of Design and Taste.
1868. Helps, Realmah, viii. (1869), 217. Her soul was a twin-soul to his.
B. sb.
1. pl. Two children or young brought forth at one birth.
[a. 900. O. E. Martyrol., 17 Jan., 24. Seo cierece … is neah Lingona byriʓ, þa man nemneð æt sanctos geminos, æt þæm halʓum ʓetwinnum.
a. 1000. in Cockayne, Shrine (1864), 92. Hi wæron ʓetwinnas.
c. 1205. Lay., 12236. Twene ibroðeren itwinnes heo weoren.]
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 322/5. Twynnes boþe huy were.
1388. Wyclif, Song Sol. vii. 3. Thi twei teetis ben as twei kidis, twynnes of a capret.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.), 10. So yere by yere two twynnes forthe she brought.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 74. Keepe twinnes for breed.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 86. They conceive and bring forth for the most part twins, or two at a time.
1793. Holcroft, Lavater’s Physiogn., xxix. 140. I have known twins not to be distinguished from each other, between whose minds there was not the least similarity.
1847. W. C. L. Martin, The Ox, 40/2. The cow … produces … sometimes … twins, and very rarely three.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xix. My brother and I were twins.
b. sing. One of two children or young brought forth at a birth; with possessive or of = twin brother or sister.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 505/2. Twynne, or twynlynge … gemellus,… geminus.
1530. Palsgr., 283/2. Twyn, jumeau.
a. 1658. Cleveland, King’s Ret. fr. Scotl., 19. The divided Dam Runs to the Summons of her hungry Lamb; But when the Twin cryes halves, she quits the first.
1824. Byron, Def. Transf., I. ii. 81. I saw your Romulus … Slay his own twin.
1899. Westm. Gaz., March, 2/1. It’s not me … but Hilda, and she’s my twin.
1912. Keith, Human Body, viii. 116. All of these ‘acardiac’ or ‘parasitic’ fœtuses are never born alone; they are the twin of a normal child.
c. Astron. (pl.) The zodiacal constellation and sign GEMINI.
1413. Pilgr. Sawle (Caxton, 1483), V. x. 100. The signe of gemini that ben cleped twynnes or doubles.
1561. B. Googe, Palingenius’ Zodiac of Life, Pref. ¶ j b. Saturne … with a backward course he ranne from out the twinnes apace.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., VI. 95. Here in the zodiack begins The Ram, the Bull, the loving Twins.
1727–46. Thomson, Summer, 43. When now no more the alternate Twins are fired, And Cancer reddens with the solar blaze.
1868. Lockyer, Guillemin’s Heavens, II. I. (ed. 3), 315. Part of the constellation of the Twins.
d. dial. (pl.) Applied to three children born at one birth; triplets.
1606. Transcr. Regrs. Cosmus Bleane in Kent (MS.). Was Baptyzed three Twines, John, Sara, and Margeret, the sonne and daughters of Liby Strydwicke.
1631–2. Canterbury Transcr., Kingsdown (MS.), Two (of three twinnes) to wit daughters of Christopher Bacheler … were buried.
1646. Inscr. Blyton Church, Lincs. Hadassah Tabitha Cephas Twins of Robt. and Elizabeth Drury.
e. With twins (strengthening of with child, CHILD sb. 17 c (b)). fig. greatly longing. rare–1.
1768. Garrick, Lett., June, in Burke’s Corr. (1844), I. 156. Hearing what a sweet place you have,… I am with twins till I am well delivered at Gregories.
2. fig. a. pl. Two persons or things intimately associated, connected, or related (esp. in origin, or from the beginning), or, as in quot. 1784, closely resembling or agreeing with each other; two forming a pair or couple. (In quot. a. 1600 loosely applied to more than two.)
Applied by Puttenham (quot. 1589) to the figure HENDIADYS.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. xvi. (Arb.), 188. Another manner of speach when ye will seeme to make two of one…, which therefore we call the figure of Twynnes, the Greekes Endiadis.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 395. Sinnes and excuses are twinnes born at a birth.
a. 1600. Montgomerie, Sonn., viii. 9. Come, troup of tuinis, about his temple tuyn Ȝour laurell leivis.
1612. Two Noble K., II. ii. 21. Never Shall we two exercise, like Twyns of honour, Our Armes again.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 738. Two were never found Twins at all points.
1820. Shelley, Ode to Liberty, xiii. Twins of a single destiny!
b. sing. One of two thus related; in early use sometimes = mate, companion; now usually with of, to, or possessive: something closely connected with or resembling the other thing mentioned; a fellow, counterpart.
1540. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom. (1592), N iij. A woman … with whom he shall live a twin.
1616. Lane, Contn. Sqr.’s T., XI. 190. Hee … shall have his landes, and her to wifelie twinn.
1697. Bentley, Phal. (1699), 249. Another consequence the very twin to that which went before.
1819. Byron, Juan., II. clxxii. All who joy would win Must share it—Happiness was born a twin.
1822–7. Good, Study Med. (1829), IV. 11. The great sympathetic … nerve … meets its twin from the opposite side.
1867. Maurice, Patriarchs & Lawg., viii. (1877), 168. Love would be seen to be the eternal twin of Truth.
1903. O. Seaman, Salvage, Sweet Uses Obesity, vii. Her bed, as a matter of course, is A twin of the wonder of Ware.
3. A pair of twin children or young; also fig. or gen. a pair, couple, brace. Obs. exc. dial.
1569. in Spenser’s Poet. Wks. (1910), I. 494. I saw the roote in hie disdaine Sende forth againe a twinne of forked trees.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 195. Commonly they are brought forth in twins.
1635. A. Stafford, Fem. Glory (1869), 80. Her Soul was delivered of a twinne of Vows.
1817. J. Nichols, Illustr. Lit. Hist. 18th C., II. 657. [He] was born in December, 1744 … and was one of a twin.
1901. M. E. Francis, Past. Dorset, 142. ‘The twin,’ a fine healthy pair of four-year-old boys.
b. Cryst. A composite crystal consisting of two (usually equal and similar) crystals united in reversed positions with respect to each other, either by juxtaposition, embedding, or interpenetration. (Also extended to composite crystals consisting of more than two.)
1845. Encycl. Metrop., XVI. 364/2. Twinning on an octahedral face is seen in the apposition twin of Spinel.
1868. Dana, Min. (ed. 5), 354. Orthoclase … Twins … right- or left-handed…. A twin of 4 crystals…. A twin of 3 crystals.
1895. Story-Maskelyne, Crystallogr., vi. § 156. The two individuals may present a mere contact at a common surface…, the juxtaposed twin…: or there may be an interlocking of the crystals,… as in the … embedded twin of orthoclase…: or again, there may be a complete mutual interpenetration…, as in an interpenetrant twin of galena…. In the case of polysynthetic twins several or almost innumerable hemitropic individual crystals may be combined. Ibid., vii. § 193. Simple twins composed of two individuals, and … complex twins formed by repeated twinning.
c. local. An agricultural implement with two rows of teeth, for breaking up plowed land and clearing it of weeds.
1847. in Halliwell.
1859. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XX. I. 216. A pair of ‘twins,’ or heavy drag-harrows.
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Twins,… for breaking the clods and uprooting the weeds of ploughed land, preparatory to the harrows going on…. The implement … is either single or double, and in the latter case is spoken of as ‘a pair of twins,’ the several parts being coupled together.
† 4. In twin (also contr. itwin), on twin: in or into two parts or divisions; in twain, in two, apart, asunder. (Cf. ATWIN advb. phr.1) Chiefly northern. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3968 (Cott.). For doute he delt þam in tuin. Ibid., 6269 He sagh þe see it drau in tuin.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 251. Fro we in twynne wern towen & twayned, I haf ben a Ioylez Iuelere. Ibid., B. 1047. Quen hit is brused oþer broken, oþer byten in twynne.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, VIII. 175. Sa fer … that thai War in-twyn a bow-draucht & mar.
c. 1400. Gamelyn, 317. I wil not þis companye parten on twyne.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 6581. Anoþer … he nolpit to ground, Shent of þo shalkes, shudrit hom it wyn.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 735, in Babees Bk. (1868), 324. Þe smalle lofe he cuttis euen in twynne.
c. 1480. Lyt. Childr. Lyt. Bk., 24. Ibid., 18. Kerue not thy brede to thynne, Ne breke hit not on twynne.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), III. 226. Quhilk causit him stand … fra him … rycht far in tuyn.
† b. Hence (or from TWIN v.1) twin is used for ‘parting, separation.’ Obs. rare–1.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 24285 (Edin.). Ik am wit þe With outen twin [Cott., Gött. tuin] and ai sal be Fra nu for euirmar.
C. Combinations. a. with sbs., forming adjs. in sense ‘having or characterized by twin … s, i.e., a pair of (the things named),’ as twin-cylinder, -light, -power, -roller, -wire. b. with sb. + -ED2, forming parasynthetic adjs. in same sense, as twin-balled, -forked, -headed, -hued, -leaved, -named, -peaked, -spiked, -striped, -towered, -towned, -wheeled. c. objective, etc., as twin-bearing adj., -getter, -killing; twin-like adj. and adv. d. adverbial (‘as a twin or twins’), as twin-begot, -existent adjs.; twin-slumber vb. e. Special Combs.: twin-axis (Cryst.), the axis of twinning in a twin crystal, i.e., the line about which either of the constituent crystals would have to revolve to come into the position of the other; twin-barren, a barren female calf twin with a male, a freemartin; twinberry, U.S., a name for Gaultheria procumbens (also called checkerberry, partridge-berry, or wintergreen), or its fruit; twin-birth, the birth of twins; a pair born or produced as twins, or one of such in relation to the other (usually fig.); twin-face (Cryst.), a face in a twin crystal perpendicular to the twin-axis; twinflower, an American name for Linnæa, from the flowers being produced in pairs; † twin-kin a. [KIN sb.1 6 b], of two kinds, twofold, double; twin-law, Cryst. the law or principle of twinning of a twin crystal; twin-leaf, a name for the N. American herb Jeffersonia diphylla, the leaves being divided each into two leaflets; twin-pair, a pair of things precisely similar and equal; attrib. in twin-pair sheet (Geom.), that part of the surface of a cone of the third or higher degree that meets the concentric sphere in two equal and similar closed curves; twin-plane (Cryst.), a plane perpendicular to the twin-axis of a twin crystal; twin-screw, a. having twin screws; spec. of a steamer, having two screw propellers on separate shafts, which turn in opposite directions so as to counteract the tendency to lateral vibration; also ellipt. as sb. a twin-screw steamer; twin-spot a., having twin spots; used in collectors’ names of various moths having pairs of spots upon the wings; twin-stock, a beehive containing two colonies.
1855. Orr’s Circle Sci., Crystall., 469. The axis about which the crystals are supposed to revolve is called the *twin axis, and the plane to which it is perpendicular the twin plane.
1603. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. IV. Decay, 1165. With sharp bodkins bore they out his eyes:… an end-less night Be-clouds for ever his *twin-balled sight.
1778. [W. Marshall], Minutes Agric., Digest, 40. English Beasts of Agricultural Labour … *Twin-Barrens.
1788. Burns, Lett., 25 May, Wks. 1879, V. 125. A certain girl’s prolific, *twin-bearing merit.
1865. Swinburne, Atalanta, 1261. Jason, and Dryas *twin-begot with war.
1836. Mrs. Traill, Backw. Canada, xiv. 248. This plant is also called winter-green, or *twin-berry.
1868. Rep. U. S. Comm. Agric. (1869), 178. Among them [small fruits] may be noted red and black currants,… twin-berries [etc.].
1807. Coleridge, To Wordsworth, 13. Of smiles spontaneous, and mysterious fear, The first born they of Reason and *twin-birth.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, xxv. The quarto of Rokeby was followed … by the small volume which had been designed for a twin-birth.
1850. Mrs. Jameson, Leg. Monast. Ord. (1863), 227. The portentous twin-birth of the two great mendicant communities.
1912. Keith, Human Body, viii. 113. Twins are common; in Ireland a twin birth has a frequency of one in seventy-two, in England about one in seventy-five.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Twin Cylinder Steam Engine.
1907. Daily Chron., 24 May, 9/3. The International Motor Cycle Tourist Trophy Race…. Twenty-two single-cylinder and seven twin-cylinder machines have been entered.
1860. Dora Greenwell, Patience of Hope, 75. Two principles … within contrariety, *twin existent,… the desire for unity, and the … love of truth.
1878. Gurney, Crystallogr., 99. When the twin axis is perpendicular to a possible face this is called the *twin face.
1836. Mrs. Traill, Backw. Canada, xiv. 238. The Americans call this honeysuckle *‘twinflower.’
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. xiv. Beds of purple twin-flower.
1776. Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), II. 441. Ceratophyllum submersum…. Leaves forked…. Specimens from Paris had the leaves *twin-forked.
1837. Youatt, Sheep, xv. 508. Certain rams … have the credit of being *twin-getters.
1872. Browning, Fifine, xi. The *Twin-headed Babe, and Human Nondescript!
1906. G. G. Coulton, Pearl, 43. *Twin-hued topaz.
1895. Pall Mall G., 13 Nov., 2/3. If *twin-killing is more reprehensible than drunkenness.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 473. This twin-killing is a widely diffused custom among the Negro tribes.
13[?]. Cursor M., 512 (Cott.). Þat kyng of craft Wald mensked be wyth *tuinkyn scaft. Ibid., 27677. Þaa dedes þat man mai Vnderstand on tuin-kyn wai.
1895. Story-Maskelyne, Crystallogr., vi. § 162. The *twin-law … appears to permit of considerable divergence from precision in the relative orientation of the crystals subject to it. Ibid., vii. § 281. The twin-laws governing the union of rhombohedral crystals.
1912. Return Brit. Museum, 196. Quartz, group of twinned crystals (Japanese twin-law) from New Mexico.
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., App. 115/2. *Twin-leaf.
1857. Gray, First Less. Bot. (1866), 133. In Jeffersonia or Twin-leaf.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., V. 272. Scilla bifolia (*Twin-leaved Squill).
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6720. *Twin-light window, with tracery.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 226. A *twinlike image of it.
1631. Brathwait, Whimzies, Ballad-monger, 18. It would doe a mans heart good to see how twinne-like hee and his songman couple.
1816. Southey, Poet’s Pilgr., Proem ix. The playmate of her infancy, Her twin-like comrade.
1614. Sylvester, Bethulia’s Rescue, VI. 48. *Twin-nam’d Ister, and Seaven-mouthed Nile.
1820. Byron, Mar. Fal., I. ii. 574. Twin-named from the apostles John and Paul.
1904. W. M. Ramsay, Lett. to Seven Ch., xvii. 213. A large … part of ancient Ephesus … can be seen only by ascending to the top of the *twin-peaked Pion.
1855. *Twin-plane [see Twin-axis above].
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Twin-power Press, one in which the power is brought upon two objects in alternation, as in some machines where the punch and shears are in the same frame.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 118. The *twin-roller mechanism, which was perfected … by Arkwright.
1864. Athenæum, 24 Sept., 410/3. Small *twin screw boats.
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 94/1. Patent Twin-screw Bath Fittings.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, vii. 123. ‘It’s a steamer,’ he said,—‘a twin-screw steamer, by the beat.’
1897. Daily News, 17 Feb., 2/7. They had increased their staff of steamboats by adding the twin-screw Connemara.
1850. S. Dobell, Roman, vii. The foemen, Good and Ill, *twin-slumber in the womb of Fate.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., VI. 133. *Twin-spiked Cord-grass.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 423. Geometra quadrifasciaria. The large *Twin-spot. —— didymaria. The Twin-spot Carpet.
1884. Phin, Dict. Apiculture, 73. *Twin-stock, a word that has been borrowed from the German. It signifies a hive containing two colonies.
1819. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 423. Geometra costostrigata. The *twin-striped Pinion.
1886. Mrs. F. Caddy, Footsteps Jeanne D’Arc, 108. A *twin-towered church.
1878. Archæol. Cantiana, XII. 331. The port for London was the *twin-towned port of Rutupiae.
1904. Windsor Mag., Jan., 245/1. A *twin-wheeled machine like the tricycle.
1892. Daily News, 26 May, 6/5. The New Telephone Company…. The new exchange will be on the *twin-wire or metallic circuit system.
Hence (nonce-wds.) Twinfold a., twofold, with the two parts or elements in close connection; Twinhood, Twinism, Twinness = TWINSHIP; Twinity [after trinity], a group of two in intimate union, two in one; Twinly a., characteristic of or befitting a twin (brother or sister).
1842. Tennyson, in Mem. (1897), I. viii. 200. Its [the heart’s] *twinfold necessity, Capacious both of Friendship and of Love.
1871. Bp. Wilberforce, Lett., in Life (1882), III. xiv. 387. That mystery of *twin-hood which seems to reach into the spirit world.
1796. Burney, Mem. Metastasio, III. 92. My fond *twinism has suggested to me, that you pass the chief part of your time in the open air.
1879. Baring-Gould, Germany, I. 201 (tr. Schiller). Herder and his wife … form together a sort of sacred *twinity.
1889. J. Veitch, Knowing & Being, i. 22. This may be called a unity; it is rather, if we might invent a term suited to the new and marvellous conception,… an unparalleled and unbegotten twinity.
1796. Burney, Mem. Metastasio, III. 98. Accepting of your *twinly offer. Ibid., 259. I am, with usual twinly kindness, yours most faithfully.
1909. Mod. Lang. Rev., Jan., 197. The resemblance of the scheme of the play [Twelfth Night], with the wonderful likeness of Viola and Sebastian, to that of the Comedy of Errors, with the *twinness of the Antipholi.
