[Altered form of QUITCH sb.1] Couch-grass, Triticum repens; = COUCH sb.2

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1595.  Lodge, Fig for Momus, III. 48. If thou espie within thy curious knot, Some tangling twitch, that doth thy flowers rot.

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1620.  Markham, Farew. Husb. (1625), 48. The sand that bringeth forth nothing but wyld Twitch, Bryars, Thorn-bush, and such like vndergrowth.

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1733.  W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 264. Lands which are over-run with Twitch or Couch-grass.

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1816.  G. Sinclair, Hort. Gram. Woburn. (1825), 222. The Trifolium medium is inadmissible [in alternate husbandry] on account of its creeping roots constituting what in arable lands is termed twitch.

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1821.  Clare, Vill. Minstr., I. 202. The big clod … a hiding place Breaking off the scorching sun Where the matted twitches run. Ibid. (1827), Sheph. Cal., 29. From teazing twitch, that in the spongy soil, Clings round the coulter.

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1884.  F. J. Lloyd, Science Agric., 256. Of the weeds … none is more common or more troublesome than twitch, or couch grass.

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  b.  attrib. and Comb.: twitch-drag (DRAG sb. 2 e), a drag or rake for clearing land of twitch; twitch-fire, a fire for burning twitch or other weeds; twitch-grass, (a) Triticum repens; (1) a species of fox-tail grass, Alopecurus agrestis (Britten and Holland, 1886); twitch-rake = twitch-drag.

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1799.  A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 69. A *twitch drag … for tearing out twitch.

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1905.  Eng. Dial. Dict., *Twitch-fire.

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1908.  [Miss Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 8. The sweet-smelling twitch … fire.

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1707.  Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 312. *Twitch-grass is a very pernicious Weed to some Land.

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1792.  Trans. Soc. Arts, X. 109. I sowed twitch-grass and rye-grass.

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1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 8. The want of proper management … has suffered twitch-grass to become abundant.

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1884.  St. James’s Gaz. 19 Sept., 6/1. In some wonderful way, twitch-grass sows itself on fields that were apparently clean.

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1799.  A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 73. A *twitch rake, containing a double row of teeth.

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1805.  R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 33. The Twitch-Rake … necessary for the clearing of certain descriptions of land from these, as well as other kinds of weeds.

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