twins

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of twin.

   The twins finished each other's sentences without even noticing.

   Doctors monitored the twins closely throughout the pregnancy.

   Note

   A regular -s plural that carries every meaning of the singular with it: siblings from one birth, a matched pair of objects, hotel rooms with two beds, two-engine aircraft, twin crystals, and, in the US, twin-size mattresses. Context does the sorting, so a booking for two twins means rooms, not children. The same spelling also serves the verb form and a slang word for breasts, so read the sentence before the word.

2. 2
   nounslangplural

   An informal slang word for a woman's breasts.

   The low-cut top left little to the imagination where the twins were concerned.

   She laughed and adjusted the straps to keep the twins under control.

   Similarboobs, breasts, knockers

   Note

   Slang that only works as a pair: it exists only in the plural, and no one calls a single breast a twin. The joke is the matched set, and the word tends to turn up in comic complaints about clothing, as when Joey O'Brien's The Gods are Angry (2011) has someone trying to squeeze the twins into a dress or blouse. Keep it to casual, joking talk, because it is not a neutral word.

3. 3
   verb

   Third-person singular present of twin.

   The council twins the two districts so they can share resources.

   She twins the left panel with the right to create a mirror image.

   Note

   The present-tense form of a verb that has meant both "split apart" and "join together." Most modern use is the linking sense, and it usually sits in the passive: a town is twinned with another abroad. That makes the active twins less common. Typical uses are a council that twins two places, or someone who twins with a friend by dressing identically. The older senses of dividing and departing belong to the same verb.

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