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What is "twit"

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twit
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
twit
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A lot of the arts fellows think Humphrey's a bit of a twit and tend to talk down to him.
▪ And when that time does come, young twits are going to sneer at you, incredible as that may seem.
▪ Don't get them mixed up or everyone else on the list will think you're a twit.
▪ My own professional credibility would be lost in an instant if I proposed a boring twit.
▪ Public school twits, she thought, an old prejudice welling up in her.
▪ You see him as an insignificant twit.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Twit

Twit \Twit\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Twitted; p. pr. & vb. n. Twitting.] [OE. atwiten, AS. [ae]tw[=i]tan to reproach, blame; [ae]t at + w[=i]tan to reproach, blame; originally, to observe, see, hence, to observe what is wrong (cf. the meanings of E. animadvert; akin to G. verweisen to censure, OHG. firw[=i]zan, Goth. traweitan to avenge, L. videre to see. See Vision, Wit.] To vex by bringing to notice, or reminding of, a fault, defect, misfortune, or the like; to revile; to reproach; to upbraid; to taunt; as, he twitted his friend of falsehood.

This these scoffers twitted the Christian with.
--Tillotson.

[AE]sop minds men of their errors, without twitting them for what is amiss.
--L'Estrange.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
twit

"to blame, reproach, taunt, upbraid," 1520s, twite, shortened form of Middle English atwite, from Old English ætwitan "to blame, reproach," from æt "at" + witan "to blame," from Proto-Germanic *witanan (cognates: Old English wite, Old Saxon witi, Old Norse viti "punishment, torture;" Old High German wizzi "punishment," wizan "to punish;" Dutch verwijten, Old High German firwizan, German verweisen "to reproach, reprove," Gothic fraweitan "to avenge"), from PIE root *weid- "to see" (see vision). For sense evolution, compare Latin animadvertere, literally "to give heed to, observe," later "to chastise, censure, punish." Related: Twitted; twitting. As a noun meaning "a taunt" from 1520s.

twit

"foolish, stupid and ineffectual person," 1934, British slang, popular 1950s-60s, crossed over to U.S. with British sitcoms. It probably developed from twit (v.) in the sense of "reproach," but it may be influenced by nitwit.

Wiktionary
twit

n. 1 A reproach, gibe or taunt. 2 A foolish or annoying person. vb. 1 (context transitive English) To reproach, blame; to ridicule or tease. 2 (context transitive computing English) To ignore or killfile (a user on a bulletin board system).

WordNet
twit

  1. n. someone who is regarded as contemptible [syn: twerp, twirp]

  2. aggravation by deriding or mocking or criticizing [syn: taunt, taunting]

  3. [also: twitting, twitted]

twit

  1. v. harass with persistent criticism or carping; "The children teased the new teacher"; "Don't ride me so hard over my failure"; "His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie" [syn: tease, razz, rag, cod, tantalize, tantalise, bait, taunt, rally, ride]

  2. [also: twitting, twitted]

Wikipedia
Twit

Twit may refer to:

  • TWiT.tv, a netcast network
    • This Week in Tech, a netcast on the TWiT.tv network
  • The Twits, a children's book by Roald Dahl
  • William "Twit" Scuttle, a fictional character; in the List of The Deptford Mice characters

Usage examples of "twit".

My brother, Titus, has a second cousin, son of a senator, who could almost be his twin, except that no one could ever mix them up, because Porphyrio looks like the evil little twit he is, and Titus looks plain nice.

So, Twit confessed her Screamer status and Isuzu her real age, sex, and expiration-datedness.

He had asked for her to escort him to the door whilst his mama stayed behind for a short private talk with Torry and twitted her about Alien Marriott before he left.

She grinned suddenly, unable to resist aji opportunity to twit him, if only to distract herself from her misery.

He would twit her with Jacobinical opinions and quote her sayings in company--sometimes jocularly, sometimes ruefully, for he himself posed as a staunch Government man.

Used to twit him with being a moneygrubber and with growing a corporation and being a Philistine generally.

Now Belinda was missing, and Socrates was sitting game for silly twits like Miss Tolliver-Jones.

I twitted her as I pushed myself back till I was crammed inside her to the very hilt, wanting that luxuriating completeness of being thoroughly and fully housed inside her warm narrow quivering grotto.

If this twit had not been the only attractive one in the over-100 wpm pool.

Jasper twitted you with not being my dragon--perhaps you could be my dragonette instead!

Receiving nothing but indignant rejoinders, he twits Susanna with loving the lad, and more than intimates that Cherubino is in love with the Countess.

Fools, especially snotty twits like the man who had superciliously informed him that slavery could not possibly antedate genetic science, he did not suffer gladly.

And it ill beseemeth thee so to twit thine Empress when all the world doth know thee for a mother o' the best, while I—" She shrugged wryly, and her friends laughed.

There’s just the Blackville commune, those self-righteous twits down at Gulp Creek, and Satan knows what savages beyond them.

This mousy French Canadian, this glorified nurse, this twit with the phony accent.