Definition of "twig"

A beech wood with silver firs in it rolled down the face of the hill, and the maze of leafless twigs and dusky spires cut sharp against the soft blueness of the evening sky.

1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 1, in The Dust of Conflict‎

I pray you now send me some dub, / A bottle or two to the needy. / I beg you won't bring it yourself, / The harman is at the Old-Bailey; / I'd rather you'd send it behalf, / For, if they twig you they'll nail you.

1765, “A Song in High Life”, in The Merry Medley, volume 1, London: W. Hoggard, page 35

I twigged him at once, by the description you gave me. I never see a cove togged out as he was,—tall hat, light sit-down-upons, and a short coat—wasn't it cut short! but in really bang-up style.J'y ai reconnu le particulier que vous m'avez dit. Bien vêtu, ma foi! Chapeau rogné, tout plat, pantalon clair, en fourreau de parapluie, veston court, oh! mais d'un court... enfin, le dernier genre.

1915, “Putting on the Screw”, in Caught in the Net, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, translation of Les Esclaves de Paris by Émile Gaboriau, page 23

Well, with fewer people doing two or three times the work, you may have already twigged to this.

2012 May 30, John E. McIntyre, “A future for copy editors”, in Baltimore Sun‎, archived from the original on 23 June 2013

At this point in our story, we first meet the fleet repair ship Kamchatka, who everyone would soon become regrettably familiar with. Her entry into our account here was her signal that she was under attack by torpedo boats! When she was asked how many, she replied "about eight, from all directions!". Eventually, someone twigged to the fact that absolutely nobody else could see so much as a seagull, let alone any exceptionally-lost Japanese torpedo boats. And, when nothing actually happened, Kamchatka refused to say that it was a false alarm, only that it had altered course and the torpedo boats had gone away.

2019 March 13, Drachinifel, 18:23 from the start, in The Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron - Voyage of the Damned‎, archived from the original on 29 January 2023

Now twig him; now mind him: mark how he hawls his muscles about.

1763, Samuel Foote, The Mayor of Garratt, act 2

This excellent man appears to have sunk into himself in a sitting posture, […] while his exceedingly homely and wrinkled face, held a little on one side, twinkles at you with the shrewdest complacency, as if he were looking right into your eyes and twigged something there which you had half a mind to conceal from him.

1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Our Old Home

Frank shall twig your Nose from your Face

1755, John Shebbeare, Lydia: Or, Filial Piety