Twist v. t. [imp. & p. p. Twisted; p. pr. & vb. n. Twisting.]
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.”
There are pillars of smoke twisted about with 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.
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.
Twist·ed, a. Contorted; crooked spirally; subjected to torsion; hence, perverted.
Twisted curve Geom., a curve of double curvature. See Plane curve, under Curve.
Twisted surface Geom., a surface described by a straight line moving according to any law whatever, yet so that the consecutive positions of the line shall not be in one plane; a warped surface.
◄ ►
twisted
adj 1: wound or wrapped around something; "hair twined around her
fingers"; "bulky with twisted stitches around the
edges" [syn: twined]
2: strained or wrenched out of normal shape; "old trees with
contorted branches"; "scorched and distorted fragments of
steel"; "trapped under twisted steel girders" [syn: contorted,
distorted]
3: having an intended meaning altered or misrepresented; "many
of the facts seemed twisted out of any semblance to
reality"; "a perverted translation of the poem" [syn: distorted,
misrepresented, perverted]