'twas: difference between revisions

• (UK, Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /twɒz/
• (US, General American) IPA^(key): /twʌz/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒz, -ʌz

’twas

1. (archaic or poetic) Contraction of it was.
   • 1779, John Newton, Amazing Grace:

     ’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, / […]

   • 1823, perhaps Clement Clarke Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas:

     ’Twas the night before Christmas, […]

   • 1871, Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky”, in Through the Looking-Glass:

     ’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; / […]

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

   • 2012 May 8, “Noble Knight Artorigus”, in Galactic Overlord, Konami:

     ’Twas the first of many feats so great,
     A legend through and through. We sing of him,
     Artorigus, the Noble and the brave.

• ’twasn’t

• 'twere, 'tweren't
• 'tis, 'tisn't
• 'twill/'tshall/it'll, 'twon't
• 'twould/'twou'd, 'twouldn't/'twou'dn't

• ATWS, AWTs, S.W.A.T., SWAT, Swat, TAWS, WSTA, sawt, staw, swat, taws, was't, wast, wats

• t'was, 'tus

it +‎ was

• IPA^(key): /twɔːz/, /tʊz/

'twas

1. it was
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 6, page 86:

     Th' cowlee-man, fausteen, zey well 'twas ee-naate.

     The goal-keeper, trembling, said well 'twas intended them.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 86