twist

A twisting force.countableuncountable

Anything twisted, or the act of twisting.countableuncountable

• Not the least turn or twist in the fibres of any one animal which does not render them more proper for that particular animal's way of life than any other cast or texture.

The form given in twisting.countableuncountable

• Habakkuk brought him a ſmooth, ſtrong, tough Rope, made of many a ply of vvholeſome Scandinavian Hemp, compactly tvviſted together, vvith a Nooſe that ſlip'd as glib as a Bird-catcher's Gin. Jack ſhrunk and grevv pale at firſt ſight of it,

The degree of stress or strain when twisted.countableuncountable

A type of thread made from two filaments twisted together.countableuncountable

• I was one morning walking arm in arm with him in St James's Park, his dress then being […] waistcoat and breeches of the same blue satin, trimmed with silver twist à la hussarde, and ermine edges.

A sliver of lemon peel added to a cocktail, etc.countableuncountable

• Bunny sat on the only remaining stool at the leather-padded oval bar in the Iron Lounge. It was happy hour, two drinks for the price of one. She decided on a martini with a twist, and while the bartender was preparing her drink, she scanned

A sudden bend (or short series of bends) in a road, path, etc.countableuncountable

• But here a twist in the stream brought us out from the bushes

A distortion to the meaning of a passage or word.countableuncountable

An unexpected turn in a story, tale, etc.countableuncountable

• I'm all agog at the new twist to the royal scandal.

A modern dance popular in Western culture in the late 1950s and 1960s, based on rotating the hips repeatedly from side to side. See Twist (dance) on Wikipedia for more details.countableuncountable

• Come on, baby, let's do the twist Take me by my little hand and go like this
• Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring Seems he was troubled by just one thing Opened the lid and shook his fist And said, "Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist?" It's now the Mash It's now the Monster Mash.

To turn the ends of something, usually thread, rope etc., in opposite directions, often using force.

To join together by twining one part around another.

• "Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldn't come down again. It went way up above the clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles away. For a day and a night I trave

To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve.

• June 8, 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift twisting it into a serpentine form.

To wreathe; to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts.

• longing to twist bays with that ivy
• There are pillars of smoke twisted about wreaths of flame.

To wind into; to insinuate.reflexive

• Avarice twists itself into all human concerns.

To turn a knob etc.

To distort or change the truth or meaning of words when repeating.

• Say I could succeed at the Bar, and achieve a fortune by bullying witnesses and twisting evidence; is that a fame which would satisfy my longings, or a calling in which my life would be well spent?

To form a twist (in any of the above noun meanings).

To injure (a body part) by bending it in the wrong direction.

• Then Romany went down, then we fell together, and the chaps separated us. I got another knock-down blow in, and was beginning to enjoy the novelty of it, when Romany staggered and limped. ‘I’ve done,’ he said. ‘I’ve twisted my ankle.’ He’d
• Oh, you are a devil. You can twist the heart in a girl as easy as some could twist her arms to hurt her. Mrs Pearce warned me. Time and again she has wanted to leave you; and you always got round her at the last minute. And you dont care a

To wind; to follow a bendy or wavy course; to have many bends.intransitive

• I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend ar
• My coming to New York had been a mistake; for whereas I had looked for poignant wonder and inspiration in the teeming labyrinths of ancient streets that twist endlessly from forgotten courts and squares and waterfronts to courts and squares