Cardinal number as adj.: (a) two; (b) in generalizing phrases: ~ or thre, two or three (persons or things), a few (persons or things); also, in adv. usage: for two or three (days) [quot. a1400]; on..or ~, o..or (other) ~, etc., one (day, point, word, etc.) or two, a couple of (days, points, etc.) [could also be construed as sense 2.(a)]; also, in adv. usage: o dai (night) or ~, for a day (night) or two; o fot (mile) or ~, the distance of a few feet (miles); o furlong wei or (other) ~, for the time required to walk the distance of one or two furlongs; lien o lef other ~, to cheat a little bit; (c) as adv.: two times, twice; ~ so muche (muchel), twice as much [could also be construed as twie adv. (c)]; (d) in proverbs and prov. expressions.

In cpds., combs., and phrases: (a) ~ angel, some kind of worm, perh. an earthworm [? = angel-twacche n.]; ~ brether, astrol. the zodiacal sign Gemini, the Twins; ~ egiptes, Upper and Lower Egypt; ~ parties, two-thirds; ~ penies, twopence, two pennies; tables ~, the two stone tablets bearing the Ten Commandments; (b) ~ egged, double-edged; ~ forked, having two branches, bifurcate; ~ foted, bipedal; ~ tothed, having two teeth, bidentate; (c) in selected phrases, freq. used adverbially: ~ daies (houres, monthes), monthes (yeres) ~, for two days (hours, months, years); in ~ monthes, in two months' time; of ~ yeres olde, of the age of two years, two years old; ~ shilling-worth of rente, rent in the amount of two shillings; ~ trimes iweie, to the weight of two drams, in the amount of two drams' weight; (d) used pleonastically or emphatically, or as rime tag, with ref. to twins, paired body parts, etc.: ~ eien (buttokes, etc.), armes (broues, hondes, etc.) ~; in hondes ~, hand in hand.

Cardinal number as noun: (a) two men, two knights, two parts, etc.; also, med. an intermittent fever recurring every second day [quot. c1475(1392)]; ~ after non, two hours after noon, two o'clock in the afternoon; ~ of, two (people or things); also, two parts of (sth.) [quot. ?1440]; in phrases following verbs of breaking, cleaving, dividing, etc.: in (in-to, on) ~, into two parts, in half; to ~, ?to both parties, to the two sides; (b) ~ and ~, a pair of persons or animals; also, used adverbially: in pairs [quots. c1385 & 1532]; ~ bi ~, two by two; (c) used pleonastically with ref. to the two persons or things specified in the context: bo (bothe) ~; hem (us, etc.) ~, the two of them (us, etc.); here tweire, of the two of them; of tweire twom, of the two following things; we ~; (d) two as an abstract number; twies ~, two times two; drauen ~ oute of ~, to subtract two from two; (e) in proverbs and prov. expressions.

In compound numbers: ~ and fourti, seventi (sixti) and ~; ~ hundred, two hundred and ~, etc.; of age twelve yeres and ~, fourteen years of age, fourteen years old.

Ordinal number as adj.: second; ~ del, a second part, half as much.

In place names [see Smith PNElem.2.199; the Ches. place name Twemlowe could also belong to two num., only exx. with front vowels being given here].