tween

Etymology 1

Clipping of in between.

noun

1. (animation) An action of tweening (inserting frames for continuity); a sequence of frames generated by tweening.
   Because the results of a shape tween can be unpredictable, you can set shape hints to let Flash know how to proceed with the tween. 2004, Andy Anderson, Mark Del Lima, Steve Johnson, Show Me Macromedia Flash MX 2004, page 237
   A tween is a method of creating animation, where you tell Flash where to start and where to end, and Flash does all the work in the middle. There are three types of tweens: Classic, Shape, and Motion. 2009, Keith Butters, Teach Yourself VISUALLY Flash CS4 Professional, page 186
   If you select the frames first, they will be replaced by the copied tween. 2009, Rich Shupe, Learning Flash CS4 Professional, page 129

verb

1. (cinematography) To generate intermediate frames in an animated sequence so as to give the appearance of smooth movement.
   The two most important and advanced ingredients of today's animation are tweening and morphing. 2004, D. P. Mukherjee, Fundamentals of Computer Graphics and Multimedia, page 117
   Simple motion tweening moves your objects in a straight line from here to there.[…]You can also combine frame-by-frame animation with tweened animation. 2005, Ellen Finkelstein, Gurdy Leete, Macromedia Flash 8 For Dummies, page 191
   The first parameter is the object that you want to tween, and the second parameter is the amount of time you want it to take in seconds. 2012, Christopher Griffith, Real-World Flash Game Development, 2nd edition, page 113

Etymology 2

Blend of teen + between in the sense of "between childhood and adolescence"

noun

1. A child, especially a girl, in the age range between middle childhood and adolescence, normally between eight and thirteen years of age.
   When Play Along — the holder of the Care Bears master toy license — placed Care Bears plushes in Spencer Gifts last year, tweens and teenage girls bought the toys. March 2 2002, Billboard, volume 114, number 9, page 70
   This grade school thinking forgets that tweens are one of the most sophisticated groups of consumers in the marketplace, and that kids this age have zero tolerance for being treated like children. 2004, Lisa Johnson, Andrea Learned, Don't Think Pink: What Really Makes Women Buy--And How to Increase Your Share of This Crucial Market, page 5
   Next stop on the worthless train is the tweens who range from ages ten to thirteen years old. The tweens are so damn annoying, they make me want to jump off a cliff. 2006 Twenty Something Essays by Twenty Something Writers page 113
   However, if we worry too much about feeding our tweens, and if we show them we're worried, we could be passing on some unhealthy messages. 2011, Hollie Smith, You and Your Tween: Managing the years from 9 to 13, Netmums, unnumbered page
   America's tweens (ages eight to twelve) are a population of more than twenty million. 2015 MKTG page 63
   But in this variation on Superbad’s wild night of transgression, downshifting the age of the protagonists from teen to tween actually only enhances the stealth, wide-eyed innocence that secretly drives this genre of pre-college hedonism. 14 August 2019, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2021-03-04

adj

1. Of or having to do with tweenagers.
   I am going to describe a video that threw me into a pit of despair. It begins with a woman running into the aisle of a big-box store and telling a tween boy that she needs phone chargers. 2020-01-29, Dan Brooks, “Comedy Written for the Machines”, in New York Times Magazine

Etymology 3

Blend of twenty + teen

noun

1. (rare) A number or age in the twenties (plural only), or a person of that age.
2. 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 2: "The Shadow of the Past"
   At that time Frodo was still in his tweens, as the hobbits called the irresponsible twenties between childhood and coming of age at thirty-three.
3. 1960, Display World, vol. 77 p. 62
   And although Mums don't always control the purse strings of the tweens (the younger set in their twenties), they are not entirely a forgotten influence.