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twisting |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Twist \Twist\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Twisted}; p. pr & vb n. {Twisting}.] [OE. twisten, AS twist a rope, as made of two (twisted) strands, fr twi- two akin to D. twist a quarrel, dissension, G. zwist, Dan. & Sw tvist, Icel. twistr the deuce in cards, tvistr distressed. See {Twice}, {Two}.] 1. To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve. Twist it into a serpentine form --Pope. 2. Hence to turn from the true form or meaning; to pervert; as to twist a passage cited from an author. 3. To distort, as a solid body, by turning one part relatively to another about an axis passing through both to subject to torsion; as to twist a shaft. 4. To wreathe; to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts ``Longing to twist bays with that ivy.'' --Waller. There are pillars of smoke twisted about wreaths of flame. --T. Burnet. 5. To wind into to insinuate; -- used reflexively; as avarice twists itself into all human concerns. 6. To unite by winding one thread, strand, or other flexible substance, round another; to form by convolution, or winding separate things round each other as to twist yarn or thread. --Shak. 7. Hence to form as if by winding one part around another; to wreathe; to make up Was it not to this end That thou began'st to twist so fine a story? --Shak. 8. To form into a thread from many fine filaments; as to twist wool or cotton. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Twisting \Twist"ing\, a. & n. from {Twist}. {Twisting pair}. (Kinematics) See under {Pair}, n., 7. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: twisting adj 1: having a twisting or snake-like or worm-like motion; "squirming boys"; "wiggly worms"; "writhing snakes" [syn: {squirming}, {wiggling}, {wiggly}, {wriggling}, {wriggly}, {writhing}] 2: marked by repeated turns and bends; "a tortuous road up the mountain"; "winding roads are full of surprises"; "had to steer the car down a twisty track" [syn: {tortuous}, {twisty}, {winding}] n 1: the act of distorting something so it seems to mean something it was not intended to mean [syn: {distortion}, {overrefinement}, {straining}, {torture}] 2: the act of rotating rapidly; "he gave the crank a spin"; "it broke off after much twisting" [syn: {spin}, {twirl}, {twist}, {whirl}]
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