Twine vs Entwine - What's the difference?

twine | entwine |

Entwine is a derived term of twine.

As verbs the difference between twine and entwine

is that twine is to weave together while entwine is to twist or twine around something (or one another).

As a noun twine

is a twist; a convolution.

twine

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) twine, twyne, twin, from (etyl) . More at (l).

Noun

(wikipedia twine) (en noun)

A twist; a convolution.

* Milton

Typhon huge, ending in snaky twine .

A strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together, and used for various purposes, as for binding small parcels, making nets, and the like; a small cord or string.

The act of twining or winding round.

Intimate and suggestive dance gyrations.

1965 Pickett, Wilson , Don't Fight It (blues song), BMI Music.

:* The way you jerk, the way you do the twine / You're too much, baby; I'd like to make you mine [...]

Etymology 2

From (etyl) twinen, twynen, from (etyl) *.

Verb

(twin)

To weave together.

To wind, as one thread around another, or as any flexible substance around another body.

* Shakespeare

Let me twine / Mine arms about that body.

To wind about; to embrace; to entwine.

* Alexander Pope

Let wreaths of triumph now my temples twine .

To mutually twist together; to become mutually involved; to intertwine.

To wind; to bend; to make turns; to meander.

* Jonathan Swift

As rivers, though they bend and twine , / Still to the sea their course incline.

To ascend in spiral lines about a support; to climb spirally.

Many plants twine .

(obsolete) To turn round; to revolve.

(Chapman)

(obsolete) To change the direction of.

(Fairfax)

(obsolete) To mingle; to mix.

(Crashaw)

Derived terms

* (l) * (l)

entwine

English

Alternative forms

* (l)

Verb

(entwin)

To twist or twine around something (or one another).

* Shelley

entwined in duskier wreaths her braided locks

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author= Sam Leith

, volume=189, issue=1, page=37, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Where the profound meets the profane , passage=Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined , in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.}}

Usage notes

Particularly used in attributive form entwined. Often used interchangeably with intertwine, with minor usage distinctions. In symmetric sense of two things twining around each other, such as the branches of two trees, narrower (term) may be preferred, but these are not strictly distinguished. In asymmetric sense of one thing twined in or around another – rather than mutually – such as a vine twined around a tree (but tree not twined around the vine), entwined is preferred.

Synonyms

* (twine around one another) (l)