ones and twos

English

Etymology

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Pronunciation

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Noun

ones and twos pl (plural only)

1. (slang) Turntables used by DJs.
   • 2012, Ebony A. Utley, Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta's God, page 11:

     During hip hop's early days when the DJ was busy with his ones and twos, MCs (masters of ceremony, microphone controllers, or movers of the crowd) spoke over the records by invoking the spirit of the party gods.

2. Small numbers of something.
   • 1948 May and June, O. S. Nock, “Scottish Night Mails of the L.M.S.R.—3”, in Railway Magazine, page 157:

     But soon one notices, first in ones and twos, and then in larger groups, men who are very much alive at this hour in the morning, the sorters for the Caledonian, and Edinburgh sections of the "Down Special"; mail is piled high on the platforms, and the postal men glance occasionally towards the platform intermediate signals. By this time the calling-on arm is pulled off, and a few minutes later in comes the train, unannounced by the loud-speakers, to the mystification of many travellers.