TWANG

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does twang mean? 

• TWANG (noun)
  The noun TWANG has 2 senses:

1. a sharp vibrating sound (as of a plucked string)

2. exaggerated nasality in speech (as in some regional dialects)

  Familiarity information: TWANG used as a noun is rare.

• TWANG (verb)
  The verb TWANG has 5 senses:

1. cause to sound with a twang

2. sound with a twang

3. twitch or throb with pain

4. pluck (strings of an instrument)

5. pronounce with a nasal twang

  Familiarity information: TWANG used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TWANG (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sharp vibrating sound (as of a plucked string)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("twang" is a kind of...):

sound (the sudden occurrence of an audible event)

Derivation:

twang (pluck (strings of an instrument))

twang (sound with a twang)

twang (cause to sound with a twang)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Exaggerated nasality in speech (as in some regional dialects)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

nasal twang; twang

Hypernyms ("twang" is a kind of...):

nasality (a quality of the voice that is produced by nasal resonators)

Derivation:

twang (pronounce with a nasal twang)

• TWANG (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they twang    ... he / she / it twangs   
Past simple: twanged   
Past participle: twanged   
-ing form: twanging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to sound with a twang

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

He twanged the guitar string

Hypernyms (to "twang" is one way to...):

sound (cause to sound)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

twang (a sharp vibrating sound (as of a plucked string))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Sound with a twang

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

the bowstring was twanging

Hypernyms (to "twang" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

twang (a sharp vibrating sound (as of a plucked string))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Twitch or throb with pain

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "twang" is one way to...):

throb (pulsate or pound with abnormal force)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 4

Meaning:

Pluck (strings of an instrument)

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

He twanged his bow

Hypernyms (to "twang" is one way to...):

pick; pluck; plunk (pull lightly but sharply with a plucking motion)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

twang (a sharp vibrating sound (as of a plucked string))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Pronounce with a nasal twang

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "twang" is one way to...):

articulate; enounce; enunciate; pronounce; say; sound out (speak, pronounce, or utter in a certain way)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

twang (exaggerated nasality in speech (as in some regional dialects))

 Context examples 

Thirty times have I journeyed it, forward and backward, and, by the twang of string!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"In course!" he exclaimed, with a twang of voice and a distortion of features equally fantastic and ludicrous.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Fly as they would the fugitives were too slow to escape from the active savages, and from every side in the tangled woods we heard the exultant yells, the twanging of bows, and the crash and thud as ape-men were brought down from their hiding-places in the trees.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You see, she finds the ring, as I knew she would from the moment that your string twanged.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Brabanter raised his weapon to the sky, and there came the short, deep twang of his powerful string.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By the twang of string! if I do not soak a goose's feather with his heart's blood, it will be no fault of Samkin Aylward of the White Company.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have thirteen arrows yet, and if one of them fly unfleshed, then, by the twang of string!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

As he spoke he raised his two feet, with the bow-stave upon their soles, and his cord twanged with a deep rich hum which might be heard across the valley.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Seven, you jack-fool,” growled the first speaker, and his bow twanged like a harp-string.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All around him Alleyne could hear the stern, short orders of the master-bowmen, while the air was filled with the keen twanging of the strings and the swish and patter of the shafts.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)