twank

English

Etymology

Imitative. Compare twang, twangle.

Verb

twank (third-person singular simple present twanks, present participle twanking, simple past and past participle twanked)

1. (intransitive, dated) To emit a sharp twanging sound.
2. (transitive, dated) To cause to make a sharp twanging sound.
   • 1711 December 29 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, December 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 251; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     London has the privilege of disturbing a whole street for an hour together, with the twanking of a brass kettle or frying-pan.

     The spelling has been modernized.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “twank”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Noun

twank (plural twanks)

1. A sharp, twanging sound.
   • (Can we date this quote by Howitt and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     a twank of the lock behind you