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Twitch vs Hitch - What's the difference?

twitch | hitch |

As a noun twitch

is a brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm or twitch can be couch grass, elymus repens ; a species of grass, often considered as a weed.

As a verb twitch

is to perform a twitch; spasm.

As a proper noun hitch is

.

twitch

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) twicchen, from (etyl) twiccian, from (etyl) ).

Noun

(es)
  • A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.
    • I saw a little twitch in the man's face, and knew he was lying.
  • (informal) Action of spotting or seeking out a bird, especially a rare one.
  • (farriery) 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.
    • Derived terms
    * nervous twitch

    Verb

  • To perform a twitch; spasm.
  • * (rfdate) — [http://www.mindspring.com/~randyhoward/new_page_6.htm]
    • "Why is it that you twitch whenever I say Faith?"
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • *:Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses...
  • To jerk sharply and briefly.
    • to twitch somebody's sleeve for attention
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear.
  • 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.
    Derived terms
    * atwitch

    Etymology 2

    alternate of quitch

    Noun

    (-)
  • couch grass, Elymus repens ; a species of grass, often considered as a weed.

    • hitch

    English

    Noun

    (es)
  • A sudden pull.
  • Any of various knots]] used to attach a rope to an object other than another rope Knots and Splices by Cyrus L Day, Adlard Coles Nautical, 2001. See [[w:List of hitch knots, List of hitch knots in Wikipedia .
  • A fastener or connection point, as for a trailer.
    • His truck sported a heavy-duty hitch for his boat.
  • (informal) A problem, delay or source of difficulty.
    • The banquet went off without a hitch . (Meaning the banquet went smoothly.)
  • A hidden or unfavorable condition or element; a catch.
    • The deal sounds too good to be true. What's the hitch ?
  • A period of time. Most often refers to time spent in the military.
    • She served two hitches in Vietnam.
    U.S. TROOPS FACE LONGER ARMY HITCH ; SOLDIERS BOUND FOR IRAQ, ... WILL BE RETAINED
  • :: Stephen J. Hedges & Mike Dorning, Chicago Tribune; Orlando Sentinel; Jun 3, 2004; pg. A.1;

    • Synonyms

    * catch

    Derived terms

    * unhitch * unhitched

    Verb

  • To pull with a jerk.
  • To attach, tie or fasten.
  • *, chapter=8
    • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room, which was just a lean-to hitched on to the end of the shanty, and came back with a salt mackerel that dripped brine like a rainstorm. Then he put the coffee pot on the stove and rummaged out a loaf of dry bread and some hardtack.}}
  • (informal) To marry oneself to; especially to get hitched .
  • (informal) contraction of hitchhike, to thumb a ride.
  • To become entangled or caught; to be linked or yoked; to unite; to cling.
  • * South
    • atomswhich at length hitched together
  • To move interruptedly or with halts, jerks, or steps; said of something obstructed or impeded.
  • * (Alexander Pope)
    • Slides into verse, and hitches in a rhyme.
  • * Fuller
    • To ease themselves by hitching into another place.
  • (UK) To strike the legs together in going, as horses; to interfere.
    • (Halliwell)

    References