twifaced

twifaced

English

Alternative forms

• twyfaced (obsolete)
• twi-faced

Etymology

From twi- +‎ faced.

Adjective

twifaced (comparative more twifaced, superlative most twifaced)

1. (archaic, poetic) Having two faces.
   • 1860, B. P, Alice, Alice: and other poems, by B.P., page 2:

     These two of whom I tell, from their first hours.
     Or, like a twi-faced urn, which doth outflow With the same spring, […]

   • 1876, Publius Vergilius Maro, The Æneids of Virgil, done into English verse by W. Morris, page 353:

     “E'en so, Æneas, do I swear by Stars, and Sea, and Earth,
     By twi-faced Janus, and the twins Latona brought to birth, […]

2. (obsolete) Two-faced; deceitful.
   • 1861, Francis Quarles, Quarles' emblems:

     There is no time to measure motion by, There time is swallowed in eternity: Wry-mouth'd disdain, and corner-hunting lust, And twy-fac'd fraud, [...]