# twice
## English
### Etymology

From earlier twise, from Middle English twies, twiȝes, from Old English twīġes (“twice”), from twīwa, twīġa ("twice"; whence Middle English twie (“twice”)) + -es (adverbial genitive ending). Related to Saterland Frisian twäie (“twice”), Middle Low German twiges, twies (“twice”), Middle High German zwies (“twice”). Compare also twi- meaning two or both.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /twaɪs/, [tw̥aɪs]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪs

### Adverb

twice (not comparable)
* Two times.
    You should brush your teeth twice a day.
** 1824, Lord Byron, “Canto the Thirteenth”, in Don Juan:I've done with my tirade. The world was gone; / The twice two thousand, for whom earth was made, / Were vanish'd to be what they call alone
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.
** 1934, J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie (lyrics and music), “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”:Santa Claus is coming to town / He’s making a list, / And checking it twice, / He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice / Santa Claus is coming to town
* (usually with "as", of a specified quality) Doubled in quantity, intensity, or degree.
** 1826, John Nicholson, The Operative Mechanic, and British Machinist: Being a Practical Display of the Manufactories and Mechanical Arts of the United Kingdom, volume 1, H.C. Carey & I. Lea, page 78:Thus it appears that if the machine is turning twice as slow as before, there is more than twice the former quantity in the rising buckets; and more will be raised in a minute by the same expenditure of power.
** 1896, Livingston Stone, Domesticated Trout: How to Breed and Grow Them, 4th edition, page 304:You can't get anything thinner than a spring shad, unless you take a couple of them, when, of course, they will be twice as thin.
** 1952, Peter Lincoln Spencer, Building mathematical concepts in the elementary school, page 139:MARY: As you go from left to right, each example has twice as many twos; from right to left, twice as few.
** 1995, Louise Corti, Heather Laurie, Shirley Dex, Highly Qualified Women, Great Britain. Dept. of Employment, page 18:Both men and women with higher qualifications were twice as less likely to be unemployed than their less qualified counterparts.

#### Synonyms

* double
* doubly
* two times
* See also Thesaurus:twice

#### Derived terms

* a broken clock is right twice a day
* any day of the week and twice on Sunday
* any day of the week and twice on Sundays
* a stopped clock is right twice a day
* at twice
* even a stopped clock is right twice a day
* every day of the week and twice on Sunday
* every day of the week and twice on Sundays
* first cousin twice removed
* hit the ball twice
* I don't boil my cabbage twice
* I don't chew my cabbage twice
* lightning does not strike twice in the same place
* lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place
* lightning never strikes the same place twice
* lightning never strikes twice
* lightning never strikes twice in the same place
* measure twice and cut once
* money won is twice as sweet as money earned
* once a man, twice a boy
* once a man, twice a child
* once a woman, twice a child
* once or twice
* opportunity seldom knocks twice
* strike twice
* the candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long
* think twice
* twice as less
* twice-baked bread
* twice-borrowed
* twice-exceptional
* twice-exceptionality
* twice-laid
* twice removed
* twice-stabbed stink bug
* twice-told
* twice-weekly
* twice-yearly
* you can't step in the same river twice

#### See also

* once
* thrice
* two-time