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(less properly Tost ); p. pr. & vb. n. Tossing.] Etym: [ W. tosiaw, tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ]

To pull with a sudden jerk; to pluck with a short, quick motion; to snatch; as, to twitch one by the sleeve; to twitch a thing out of another's hand; to twitch off clusters of grapes. Thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear. Pope.

To take or move by a sudden motion; to jerk; to snatch; -- with into, out, up, off, and the like. She, in a hurry, whips up her darling under her arm. L'Estrange. He whips out his pocketbook every moment, and writes descriptions of everything he sees. Walpole.

To remove or carry quickly with, or as with, a revolving motion; to snatch; to harry. Chaucer. See, see the chariot, and those rushing wheels, That whirled the prophet up at Chebar flood. Milton. The passionate heart of the poet is whirl'd into folly. Tennyson.

The state of being bewildered; confusion; bewilderment. And snatched her breathless from beneath This wilderment of wreck and death. Moore.

To snatch up; transport; -- chiefly used in the p. p. wrapt. Lo! where the stripling, wrapt in wonder, roves. Beattie.