atwain
English
Etymology
From a- + twain.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əˈtweɪn/
- Rhymes: -eɪn
Adverb
atwain (not comparable)
- (archaic) Into two parts.
- Synonyms: apart, asunder, in twain, in two; see also Thesaurus:asunder
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act II, scene ii], page 292, column 1:
- [S]uch ſmiling rogues as theſe, / Like Rats oft bite the holy cords a twaine, / Which are t' intrince, t' vnlooſe: […]
- 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “To—”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], OCLC 1008064829, page 15:
- Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn, / Edged with sharp laughter, cuts atwain / The knots that tangle human creeds, / The wounding cords that bind and strain / The heart until it bleeds, […]
- 1896, William Morris, The Well at the World’s End, London: Longmans, Green, Volume 2, Chapter 11, p. 55,
- […] a much wider valley into which a great reef of rocks thrust out from the high mountain, so that the northern half of the said vale was nigh cleft atwain by it;
- 1939, Henry Miller, Tropic of Capricorn, Grove Press, published 1962, page 295:
- You must believe me that on this street, neither in the houses which line it, nor the cobblestones which pave it, nor the elevated structure which cuts it atwain, neither in any creature that bears a name and lives thereon, neither in any animal, bird or insect passing through it to slaughter or already slaughtered, is there hope of “lubet,” “sublimate” or “abominate.”
Anagrams
- T'ai-wan, Taiwan