battle-twig

battle-twig (plural battle-twigs)

1. (UK, dialect) An earwig
   • 1885, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Spinster's Sweet-Arts”, in Tiresias, and Other Poems, page 111:

     An' the wool of a thistle a-flyin' an' seeädin' tha haäted to see;
     'Twur as bad as a battle-twig 'ere i' my oän blue chaumber to me.

   • 1929 D. H. Lawrence, Up He Goes! (from Pansies) in The Complete Poems, page 553 [1]

     There isn't a damn thing in 'em,

     They're as empty as empty tins;

     they haven't the spunk of a battle-twig,

     an' all they can think of is sins.