"twitcher" meaning in English

See twitcher in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈtwɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/ Audio: en-au-twitcher.ogg Forms: twitchers [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪtʃə(ɹ) Etymology: From twitch + -er. The birdwatching sense first recorded in 1970 and recalled as being in use in 1968; claimed by R.E. Emmett to have arisen in 1950s Britain in reference to birder Howard Medhurst who often arrived at rare‑bird sites shivering after riding pillion on Emmett's motorcycle. Etymology templates: {{af|en|twitch|-er|id2=agent noun}} twitch + -er Head templates: {{en-noun}} twitcher (plural twitchers)
  1. Someone or something that twitches. Translations (someone or something that twitches): nykijä (Finnish), sätkijä (Finnish), hiplari (Finnish), manischer Vogelbeobachter [masculine] (German)
    Sense id: en-twitcher-en-noun-xOuiO5HJ Disambiguation of 'someone or something that twitches': 95 5
  2. An avid birdwatcher who travels long distances to see rare species, or to add a new species to their personal list; a birder who goes on twitches. Translations (eager bird watcher): twitcher [masculine] (Dutch), lintubongari (Finnish), bongari (Finnish), cocheur [masculine] (French)
    Sense id: en-twitcher-en-noun-0iWV3Yes Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun), Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 2 entries, Pages with entries, Terms with Dutch translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Birdwatching Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 9 91 Disambiguation of English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun): 19 81 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 19 81 Disambiguation of Pages with 2 entries: 14 86 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 9 91 Disambiguation of Terms with Dutch translations: 18 82 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 16 84 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 14 86 Disambiguation of Birdwatching: 14 86 Disambiguation of 'eager bird watcher': 6 94
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: curtain twitcher

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "curtain twitcher"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "twitch",
        "3": "-er",
        "id2": "agent noun"
      },
      "expansion": "twitch + -er",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From twitch + -er. The birdwatching sense first recorded in 1970 and recalled as being in use in 1968; claimed by R.E. Emmett to have arisen in 1950s Britain in reference to birder Howard Medhurst who often arrived at rare‑bird sites shivering after riding pillion on Emmett's motorcycle.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "twitchers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "twitcher (plural twitchers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Someone or something that twitches."
      ],
      "id": "en-twitcher-en-noun-xOuiO5HJ",
      "links": [
        [
          "twitch",
          "twitch"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
          "word": "nykijä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
          "word": "sätkijä"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
          "word": "hiplari"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "95 5",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "manischer Vogelbeobachter"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "9 91",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "19 81",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 91",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "18 82",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "16 84",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "14 86",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Birdwatching",
          "orig": "en:Birdwatching",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              489,
              498
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1970, D.I.M. Wallace, “The first ten years of the Rarities Committee”, in British Birds, volume 63, number 3, London, page 124:",
          "text": "It is difficult to classify them precisely, but, in roughly ascending order of productivity, we now recognise the purely chance observer, the locality regulars (now recognising that ‘time in’ eventually equals ‘rarity out’), the ringers (particularly when working in groups), the occasional tally-hunter (most of us, if we are honest), the full-time observatory workers (exhibiting the highest standards of discipline) and the growing group of full-blooded rarity collectors (self-styled ‘twitchers’, covering individually up to 30,000 miles in their annual pursuit of ‘lifers’).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              9
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1981, Peter Weaver, The Birdwatcher's Dictionary, London: T & AD Poyser, page 120:",
          "text": "Twitchers are very mobile and may travel great distances to see rare birds, of which they hear through their efficient 'grapevine'.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              34,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 21:",
          "text": "I do not consider myself either a twitcher or an expert.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An avid birdwatcher who travels long distances to see rare species, or to add a new species to their personal list; a birder who goes on twitches."
      ],
      "id": "en-twitcher-en-noun-0iWV3Yes",
      "links": [
        [
          "avid",
          "avid"
        ],
        [
          "birdwatcher",
          "birdwatcher"
        ],
        [
          "distance",
          "distance"
        ],
        [
          "species",
          "species"
        ],
        [
          "list",
          "list"
        ],
        [
          "birder",
          "birder"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "lang_code": "nl",
          "sense": "eager bird watcher",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "twitcher"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "eager bird watcher",
          "word": "lintubongari"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "eager bird watcher",
          "word": "bongari"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "eager bird watcher",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "cocheur"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtwɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-twitcher.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ed/En-au-twitcher.ogg/En-au-twitcher.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/En-au-twitcher.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪtʃə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "word": "twitcher"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms suffixed with -er (agent noun)",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪtʃə(ɹ)",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪtʃə(ɹ)/2 syllables",
    "Terms with Dutch translations",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with French translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "en:Birdwatching"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "curtain twitcher"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "twitch",
        "3": "-er",
        "id2": "agent noun"
      },
      "expansion": "twitch + -er",
      "name": "af"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From twitch + -er. The birdwatching sense first recorded in 1970 and recalled as being in use in 1968; claimed by R.E. Emmett to have arisen in 1950s Britain in reference to birder Howard Medhurst who often arrived at rare‑bird sites shivering after riding pillion on Emmett's motorcycle.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "twitchers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "twitcher (plural twitchers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Someone or something that twitches."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "twitch",
          "twitch"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              489,
              498
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1970, D.I.M. Wallace, “The first ten years of the Rarities Committee”, in British Birds, volume 63, number 3, London, page 124:",
          "text": "It is difficult to classify them precisely, but, in roughly ascending order of productivity, we now recognise the purely chance observer, the locality regulars (now recognising that ‘time in’ eventually equals ‘rarity out’), the ringers (particularly when working in groups), the occasional tally-hunter (most of us, if we are honest), the full-time observatory workers (exhibiting the highest standards of discipline) and the growing group of full-blooded rarity collectors (self-styled ‘twitchers’, covering individually up to 30,000 miles in their annual pursuit of ‘lifers’).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              9
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1981, Peter Weaver, The Birdwatcher's Dictionary, London: T & AD Poyser, page 120:",
          "text": "Twitchers are very mobile and may travel great distances to see rare birds, of which they hear through their efficient 'grapevine'.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              34,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2000, Bill Oddie, Gripping Yarns, page 21:",
          "text": "I do not consider myself either a twitcher or an expert.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An avid birdwatcher who travels long distances to see rare species, or to add a new species to their personal list; a birder who goes on twitches."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "avid",
          "avid"
        ],
        [
          "birdwatcher",
          "birdwatcher"
        ],
        [
          "distance",
          "distance"
        ],
        [
          "species",
          "species"
        ],
        [
          "list",
          "list"
        ],
        [
          "birder",
          "birder"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtwɪt͡ʃə(ɹ)/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-twitcher.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/e/ed/En-au-twitcher.ogg/En-au-twitcher.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/En-au-twitcher.ogg"
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪtʃə(ɹ)"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
      "word": "nykijä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
      "word": "sätkijä"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
      "word": "hiplari"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "someone or something that twitches",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "manischer Vogelbeobachter"
    },
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "eager bird watcher",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "twitcher"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "eager bird watcher",
      "word": "lintubongari"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "eager bird watcher",
      "word": "bongari"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "eager bird watcher",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "cocheur"
    }
  ],
  "word": "twitcher"
}

Download raw JSONL data for twitcher meaning in English (4.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (d146717 and 59dc20b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.