atwain

adv

1. (archaic, not-comparable)Into two parts.

   “[S]uch ſmiling rogues as theſe, / Like Rats oft bite the holy cords a twaine, / Which are t' intrince, t' vnlooſe: […]”

   “Clear-headed friend, whose joyful scorn, / Edged with sharp laughter, cuts atwain / The knots that tangle human creeds, / The wounding cords that bind and strain / The heart until it bleeds, […]”

   “[…] a much wider valley into which a great reef of rocks thrust out from the high mountain, so that the northern half of the said vale was nigh cleft atwain by it;”

   “You must believe me that on this street, neither in the houses which line it, nor the cobblestones which pave it, nor the elevated structure which cuts it atwain, neither in any creature that bears a name and lives thereon, neither in any animal, bird or insect passing through it to slaughter or already slaughtered, is there hope of “lubet,” “sublimate” or “abominate.””