Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun, adjective & pronoun Two.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Two.
- noun Two units, occurring or regarded either singly or separate; a couple; a pair.
- To part in twain; divide; sunder.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- Two; -- nearly obsolete in common discourse, but used in poetry and burlesque.
- in halves; into two parts; asunder.
- (Meteor.) Same as
Cumulo-stratus .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun dated
two
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun two items of the same kind
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Just at that instant that Christ died upon mount Calvary, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, v. 38.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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Then said she, “O my brother, let us get under him and lift him up and carry him to Cairo, that we may compare him with the damsel of whom thou speakest and so determine whether of the twain is the fairer.”
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51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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She comments that lightning "attacks the 'pointed spire '[{lines} 64] of the church … throws aristocratic' stately towers '[{lines} 66] to the ground … [and] rends' in twain the iron-knit stone '[{lines} 65] of the church" (134).
'[S]hak[ing] the dwellings of the great': Liberation in Joanna Baillies Poems (1790) 2008
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There was always something divided about Samuel Langhorne Clemens, a psychological fault line implicit in his desire to be known professionally as " Mark Twain " and in the word twain itself.
The Adventures of Samuel Clemens Edmund Morris 2010
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I'm not actually sure if that's worse than the idea of splitting The Hobbit in twain, but either way it's not as great as it could have been.
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I call to mind the parting day that rent our loves in twain, viii.
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A second then rose and took his sword, and as he came into the anteroom, Wakhs El Fellat clove him in twain at one blow and Shama dragged his body also on one side.
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Then a second came forth and he slew him also, and a third and he tare him in twain, and a fourth and he did him to death; nor did they cease sallying out to him and he left not slaying them, till it was noon, by which time he had laid low two hundred braves.
slumry commented on the word twain
No, not train, twain.
July 10, 2007
uselessness commented on the word twain
"He split Robin's arrow in twain!"
July 10, 2007
slumry commented on the word twain
Never the twain shall meet. At least not on the twacks, we hope.
July 10, 2007
reesetee commented on the word twain
"I'm not supposed to lose. Let me see the script."
July 11, 2007
brobbins commented on the word twain
two wings
July 24, 2009