twine

Etymology 1

From Middle English twyn, twyne, twin, from Old English twīn (“double thread, twist, twine, linen-thread, linen”), from Proto-West Germanic *twiʀn (“thread, twine”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwisnós (“double”), from *dwóh₁ (“two”).

noun

1. A twist; a convolution.
2. A strong thread composed of two or three smaller threads or strands twisted together, and used for various purposes, as for binding small parcels, making nets, and the like; a small cord or string.
   The orioles like to build the framework of twine, and it is marvelous how they will loop this around a twig almost as evenly knotted as if crocheted[…] 1911, Anna Botsford Comstock, Handbook of Nature Study, 24th edition, published 1939, pages 120–121
3. The act of twining or winding round.
4. Intimate and suggestive dance gyrations.
   1965, Wilson Pickett, Don't Fight It (blues song), BMI Music. The way you jerk, the way you do the twine / You're too much, baby; I'd like to make you mine …

Etymology 2

From Middle English twinen, twynen, from Old English *twīnian (“to twine, thread”), from Proto-Germanic *twiznōną (“to thread”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwisnós (“double”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”). Cognate with Dutch twijnen (“to twine, contort, throw”), Danish tvinde (“to twist”), Swedish tvinna (“to twist, twine, throw”), Icelandic tvinna (“to merge, twine”).

verb

1. (transitive) To weave together.
2. (transitive) To wind, as one thread around another, or as any flexible substance around another body.
   She was twining her fingers together. 1931, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 10, in The Glass Key, New York: Vintage, published 1972, page 199
3. (transitive) To wind about; to embrace; to entwine.
4. (intransitive) To mutually twist together; to become mutually involved; to intertwine.
   Usually some old crone was squatted on the earth floor, weaving cedar fibre or tatters of old cloth into a mat, her claw-like fingers twining in and out, in and out, among the strands that were fastened to a crude frame of sticks. 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 1, in Klee Wyck
5. (intransitive) To wind; to bend; to make turns; to meander.
   As rivers, though they bend and twine, Still to the sea their course incline: 1713, Jonathan Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa
6. (intransitive) To ascend in spiral lines about a support; to climb spirally.
   Many plants twine.
7. (obsolete) To turn round; to revolve.
   dancers twine midst cedar-fragrant glades 1598, George Chapman, Hero and Leander
8. (obsolete) To change the direction of.
   For where he turned his sword, or twined his steed, He slew, or man and beast on earth down laid, 1600, Torquato Tasso, translated by Edward Fairfax, Jerusalem Delivered, published 1581, Book 20, Stanza 38
9. (obsolete) To mingle; to mix.
   As lumpes of sugar loose themselues, and twine Their subtile essence with the soul of wine. 1646, Richard Crashaw, M. Crashaw’s Answer for Hope, lines 29–30

Etymology 3

verb

1. Alternative form of twin (“to separate”)