Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

2 ADV You use twice in expressions such as twice a day and twice a week to indicate that two events or actions of the same kind happen in each day or week. □  I phoned twice a day, leaving messages with his secretary.

3 ADV [ADV as adj/adv] If one thing is, for example, twice as big or old as another, the first thing is two times as big or old as the second. People sometimes say that one thing is twice as good or hard as another when they want to emphasize that the first thing is much better or harder than the second. □  The figure of seventy-million pounds was twice as big as expected. ● PREDET Twice is also a predeterminer. □  The barn was twice the size of her father's.

4 PHRASE If you think twice about doing something, you consider it again and decide not to do it, or decide to do it differently. □  She'd better shut her mouth and from now on think twice before saying stupid things.

5once or twice → see once

6twice over → see over ➋

twid|dle /tw I d ^ə l/ (twiddles , twiddling , twiddled )

1 VERB If you twiddle something, you twist it or turn it quickly with your fingers. □ [V n] He twiddled a knob on the dashboard. □ [V + with ] She had sat there twiddling nervously with the clasp of her handbag.

2to twiddle your thumbs → see thumb

twig /tw I g/ (twigs , twigging , twigged )

1 N‑COUNT A twig is a very small thin branch that grows out from a main branch of a tree or bush.

2 VERB If you twig , you suddenly realize or understand something. [INFORMAL ] □ [V that] Then I twigged that they were illegal immigrants. □ [V wh] By the time she'd twigged what it was all about, it was too late. [Also V ]

twi|light /twa I la I t/

1 N‑UNCOUNT Twilight is the time just before night when the daylight has almost gone but when it is not completely dark.

2 N‑UNCOUNT Twilight is the small amount of light that there is outside just after the sun has gone down. □  …the deepening autumn twilight.

3 N‑SING [N n] The twilight of a particular period of time is the final stages of it, when the most important events have already happened. □ [+ of ] Now both men are in the twilight of their careers.

4 ADJ [ADJ n] A twilight state or a twilight zone is a situation of confusion or uncertainty, which seems to exist between two different states or categories. □ [+ between ] They fell into that twilight zone between military personnel and civilian employees.

twill /tw I l/ N‑UNCOUNT Twill is cloth, usually cotton, woven in a way which produces parallel sloping lines across it.

twin ◆◇◇ /tw I n/ (twins , twinning , twinned )

1 N‑COUNT [oft N n] If two people are twins , they have the same mother and were born on the same day. □  Sarah was looking after the twins. □  She had a twin brother and a younger brother.

2 ADJ [ADJ n] Twin is used to describe a pair of things that look the same and are close together. □  …the twin spires of the cathedral. □  …the world's largest twin-engined aircraft.

3 ADJ [ADJ n] Twin is used to describe two things or ideas that are similar or connected in some way. □  …the twin concepts of liberty and equality.

4 VERB [usu passive] When a place or organization in one country is twinned with a place or organization in another country, a special relationship is formally established between them. [BRIT ] □ [be V -ed + with ] My son's state primary school is twinned with a school near Johannesburg. □ [V -ed + with ] The busy commercial town is twinned with Truro.

5 ADJ [ADJ n] Twin towns or cities are twinned with each other. [BRIT ] □  The thirty Germans were visiting their UK twin town. in AM, use sister cities 6 → see also identical twin , Siamese twin