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TWAIN

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Acronyms, Idioms, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.04 sec.

(Technology Without An Interesting Name) A programming interface that lets a graphics application, such as an image editing program or desktop publishing program, activate a scanner, frame grabber or other image-capturing device.

(graphics, standard)TWAIN - An image capture API for Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems that enables the user to control a scanner or digital camera from image processing software.

TWAIN was first released on 1992-02-29 and is currently ratified at version 2.0 as of 2005-11-28. It is maintained by the TWAIN Working Group.

Kevin Bier, chairman-emeritus of the TWAIN Working Group and the one of the original co-author/editors of TWAIN 1.0, chose the name TWAIN after reading letters by Mark Twain. It was unofficially considered to mean "toolkit without an important name."

The word "twain" is an archaic form meaning "two". It appears in Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West" - "...and never the twain shall meet...", reflecting the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers. It was up-cased to TWAIN to make it more distinctive. This led people to believe it was an acronym, and then to a contest to come up with an expansion. None were selected, but the entry "Technology Without An Interesting Name" continues to haunt the standard.

The TWAIN Working Group.
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? Mentioned in ? References in classic literature
 
But the warm twilight round us twain Will never rise again.
A Lute of Jade by Cranmer-Byng, L. View in context
At all events, the veil of self-consciousness was rent in twain at that remark, and our spirits rushed together at this touch of London nature thus unexpectedly revealed.
The Quest of the Golden Girl by le Gallienne, Richard View in context
For though I tried to move his arm --unlock his bridegroom clasp --yet, sleeping as he was, he still hugged me tightly, as though naught but death should part us twain.
Moby Dick I-LXVII by Melville, Herman View in context
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