twitch

Meaning

1. A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.
2. (informal) Action of spotting or seeking out a bird, especially a rare one.
3. A stick with a hole in one end through which passes a loop, which can be drawn tightly over the upper lip or an ear of a horse and twisted to keep the animal quiet during minor surgery.
4. A brief, contractile response of a skeletal muscle elicited by a single maximal volley of impulses in the neurons supplying it.
5. The sudden narrowing almost to nothing of a vein of ore.
6. A trip taken in order to observe a rare bird.

jerk

spasm

quick grass

be cramped

toss about

have a spasm

be affected by spasms

involumtarity of the eye

pull sharply

move or flap

dog grass

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/twɪt͡ʃ/

From Middle English twicchen, from Old English *twiċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *twikkijan (“to nail, pin, fasten, clasp, pinch”). Cognate with English tweak, Low German twikken, German Low German twicken (“to pinch, pinch off”), zweckōn and gizwickan (> German zwicken (“to pinch”)).