Twitch vs Signal - What's the difference?
twitch | signal |
A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.
(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.
To perform a twitch; spasm.
* (rfdate) — [http://www.mindspring.com/~randyhoward/new_page_6.htm]
* 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.
* Alexander Pope
To spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one.
* 1995 , Quarterly Review of Biology vol. 70 p. 348:
* 2003 , Mark Cocker, Birders: Tales of a Tribe [http://books.google.com/books?id=tv-Noj1Fvc0C], ISBN 0802139965, page 52:
* 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:
couch grass, Elymus repens ; a species of grass, often considered as a weed.
A sign made to give notice of some occurrence, command, or danger, or to indicate the start of a concerted action.
* Milton
An on-off light, semaphore, or other device used to give an indication to another person.
(of a radio, TV, telephone, internet, etc) An electrical or electromagnetic action, normally a voltage that is a function of time that conveys the information of the radio or TV program or of communication with another party.
A token; an indication; a foreshadowing; a sign.
* Shakespeare
* De Foe
Useful information, as opposed to noise.
(computing, Unix) A simple interprocess communication used to notify a process or thread of an occurrence.
To indicate.
Standing above others in rank, importance, or achievement.
* Milton
As nouns the difference between twitch and signal
is that 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 while signal is signal.As a verb twitch
is to perform a twitch; spasm.twitch
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) twicchen, from (etyl) twiccian, from (etyl) ).Noun
(es)- I saw a little twitch in the man's face, and knew he was lying.
Derived terms
* nervous twitchVerb
- "Why is it that you twitch whenever I say Faith?"
- to twitch somebody's sleeve for attention
- Thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear.
- "The Birdwatchers Handbook ... will be a clear asset to those who 'twitch' in Europe."
- "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."
- "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
* atwitchEtymology 2
alternate of quitchNoun
(-)signal
English
(wikipedia signal)Alternative forms
* signallNoun
(en noun)- All obeyed / The wonted signal and superior voice / Of this great potentate.
- My mobile phone can't get a signal in the railway station.
- The weary sun / Gives signal of a goodly day to-morrow.
- There was not the least signal of the calamity to be seen.
Antonyms
* (useful information) noiseDerived terms
* signal box * signalman * signalwoman * smoke signalSee also
* tocsinVerb
Adjective
(-)- a signal''' exploit; a '''signal''' service; a '''signal act of benevolence
- As signal now in low, dejected state / As erst in highest, behold him where he lies.