atwo
Middle English edit
Etymology edit
From on + two, already a phrase in Old English as on twā.
Adverb edit
atwo (not comparable)
- In two; in twain; asunder.
- Synonym: atwein
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Pardoners Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, lines 388-91:
- Fordronke, as he sat on his bench upright.
Ther cam a privee theef men clepeth Deeth,
That in this contree al the peple sleeth,
And with his spere he smoot his herte atwo- (please add an English translation of this quotation)