Twitch (Aldo Nova album)
WordNet
noun
(1) A sudden muscle spasm; especially one caused by a nervous condition
verb
(2) Make an uncontrolled, short, jerky motion
"His face is twitching"
(3) Move or pull with a sudden motion
(4) Squeeze tightly between the fingers
"He pinched her behind"
"She squeezed the bottle"
(5) Move with abrupt, seemingly uncontrolled motions
"The patient's legs were jerkings"
(6) Toss with a sharp movement so as to cause to turn over in the air
WiktionaryText
Noun
- A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.
Verb
- To perform a twitch; spasm.
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- "Why is it that you twitch whenever I say Faith?" — http://www.mindspring.com/~randyhoward/new_page_6.htm
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- To jerk sharply and briefly.
- To spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one.
- 1995, Quarterly Review of Biology vol. 70 p. 348:
- "The Birdwatchers Handbook ... will be a clear asset to those who 'twitch' in Europe."
- 2003, Mark Cocker, Birders: Tales of a Tribe http://books.google.com/books?id=tv-Noj1Fvc0C, ISBN 0802139965, page 52:
- "But the key revelation from twitching that wonderful Iceland Gull on 10 March 1974 wasn't its eroticism. It was the sheer innocence of it."
- 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent, a Race Against Time http://books.google.com/books?id=fWLmpqL4EMsC, ISBN 1741145287, page 119:
- "I hadn't seen John since I went to Adelaide to (unsuccessfully) twitch the '87 Northern Shoveler, when I was a skinny, eighteen- year-old kid. "
Usage notes
When used of birdwatchers by ignorant outsiders, this term frequently carries a negative connotation.