An old manufacturing defect in spun thread where the yarn contains tight knots, tangles, or thin spots with insufficient twist. Weavers and spinners dreaded twitters because they easily snapped under the tension of the loom or jammed in the heddles. The term is largely obsolete in automated spinning but survives in historical textile literature.
Heard on the job
The old mule spinners would complain if the roving was drafted poorly, leaving a twitter in the final thread.
Also heard as
- twit