Twitch vs Tug - What's the difference?

Twitch is a related term of tug.

In lang=en terms the difference between twitch and tug

is that twitch is to spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one while tug is to tow by tugboat.

As nouns the difference between twitch and tug

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 tug is a sudden powerful pull.

As verbs the difference between twitch and tug

is that twitch is to perform a twitch; spasm while tug is to pull or drag with great effort.

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.

tug

English

Verb

(tugg)

to pull or drag with great effort

The police officers tugged the drunkard out of the pub.

to pull hard repeatedly

He lost his patience trying to undo his shoe-lace, but tugging it made the knot even tighter.

to tow by tugboat

Derived terms

* tug down * tug up

Noun

(en noun)

a sudden powerful pull

* Dryden

At the tug he falls, / Vast ruins come along, rent from the smoking walls.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=September 24 , author=David Ornstein , title=Arsenal 3 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=But Van Persie slotted home 40 seconds after the break before David Wheater saw red for a tug on Theo Walcott.}}

(nautical) a tugboat

(obsolete) A kind of vehicle used for conveying timber and heavy articles.

(Halliwell)

A trace, or drawing strap, of a harness.

(mining) An iron hook of a hoisting tub, to which a tackle is affixed.

(slang) An act of masturbation

He had a quick tug to calm himself down before his date.

Derived terms

* tug of war

Anagrams

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