Twist Definition | Definition of Twist at Dictionary.com

twist

[twist]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to combine, as two or more strands or threads, by winding together; intertwine.

2.	to form by or as if by winding strands together: Several fibers were used to twist the rope.

3.	to entwine (one thing) with another; interlace (something) with something else; interweave; plait.

4.	to wind or coil (something) about something else; encircle; entwine; wreathe.

5.	to alter in shape, as by turning the ends in opposite directions, so that parts previously in the same straight line and plane are located in a spiral curve: The sculptor twisted the form into an arabesque. He twisted his body around to look behind him.

6.	to turn sharply or wrench out of place; sprain: He twisted his ankle.

7.	to pull, tear, or break off by turning forcibly: He twisted the arm off the puppet.

8.	to distort (the features) by tensing or contracting the facial muscles; contort: She twisted her face in a wry smile.

9.	to distort the meaning or form of; pervert: He twisted my comment about to suit his own purpose.

10.	to cause to become mentally or emotionally distorted; warp: The loss of his business twisted his whole outlook on life.

11.	to form into a coil, knot, or the like by winding, rolling, etc.: to twist the hair into a knot.

12.	to bend tortuously.

13.	to cause to move with a rotary motion, as a ball pitched in a curve.

14.	to turn (something) from one direction to another, as by rotating or revolving: I twisted my chair to face the window.

15.	to combine or associate intimately.

–verb (used without object)

16.	to be or become intertwined.

17.	to wind or twine about something.

18.	to writhe or squirm.

19.	to take a spiral form or course; wind, curve, or bend.

20.	to turn or rotate, as on an axis; revolve, as about something; spin.

21.	to turn so as to face in another direction.

22.	to turn, coil, or bend into a spiral shape.

23.	to change shape under forcible turning or twisting.

24.	to move with a progressive rotary motion, as a ball pitched in a curve.

25.	to dance the twist.

–noun

26.	a deviation in direction; curve; bend; turn.

27.	the action of turning or rotating on an axis; rotary motion; spin.

28.	anything formed by or as if by twisting or twining parts together.

29.	the act or process of twining strands together, as in thread, yarn, or rope.

30.	a twisting awry or askew.

31.	distortion or perversion, as of meaning or form.

32.	a peculiar attitude or bias; eccentric turn or bent of mind; eccentricity.

33.	spiral disposition, arrangement, or form.

34.	spiral movement or course.

35.	an irregular bend; crook; kink.

36.	a sudden, unanticipated change of course, as of events.

37.	a treatment, method, idea, version, etc., esp. one differing from that which preceded: The screenwriters gave the old plot a new twist.

38.	the changing of the shape of anything by or as by turning the ends in opposite directions.

39.	the stress causing this alteration; torque.

40.	the resulting state.

41.	a twisting or torsional action, force, or stress; torsion.

42.	a strong, twisted silk thread, heavier than ordinary sewing silk, for working buttonholes and for other purposes.

43.	the direction of twisting in weaving yarn; S twist or Z twist.

44.	a loaf or roll of dough twisted and baked.

45.	a strip of citrus peel that has been twisted and placed in a drink to add flavor.

46.	a kind of tobacco manufactured in the form of a rope or thick cord.

47.	a dance performed by couples and characterized by strongly rhythmic turns and twists of the arms, legs, and torso.

48.	the degree of spiral formed by the grooves in a rifled firearm or cannon.

49.	Gymnastics, Diving. a full rotation of the body about the vertical axis.

50.

a wrench.

—Idiom

51.	twist one's arm, Informal. to coerce: I didn't want to go, but he twisted my arm.

Origin:
1300–50; ME twisten to divide, deriv. of twist divided object, rope (cf. OE -twist in candel-twist pair of snuffers); c. D twisten to quarrel, G Zwist a quarrel. See twi-

Related forms:

twist⋅a⋅ble, adjective

twist⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun

twist⋅ed⋅ly, adverb

twist⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
7. wrench, wrest, yank. 32. See turn.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To Twist

twist (twĭst)

v. twist·ed, twist·ing, twists

v. tr.

1. To wind together (two or more threads, for example) so as to produce a single strand.
2. To form in this manner: twist a length of rope from strands of hemp.
3. To turn or open by turning: twisted off the bottle cap.
4. To pull, break, or snap by turning: twist off a dead branch.
To wind or coil (vines or rope, for example) about something.
To interlock or interlace: twist flowers in one's hair.
To make (one's way) in a tortuous manner: twisted my way through the briar patch.
To turn so as to face another direction: twisted their heads around at the sound of the doorbell.
To impart a spiral or coiling shape to, as by turning the ends in opposite directions: twisting wire into a loop.
1. To turn or open by turning: twisted off the bottle cap.
2. To pull, break, or snap by turning: twist off a dead branch.
To wrench or sprain: twist one's wrist.
To alter the normal aspect of; contort: twist one's mouth into a wry smile.
To alter or distort the intended meaning of: The cross-examiner twisted the words of the witness. See Synonyms at distort.
To alter or distort the mental, moral, or emotional character of: The trauma twisted the child's outlook.

v. intr.

To be or become twisted.
To move or progress in a winding course; meander: The river twisted toward the sea.
To squirm; writhe: twist with pain.
To rotate or revolve.
To dance the twist.
To move so as to face in another direction.

Something twisted or formed by twisting, especially:
1. A length of yarn, cord, or thread, especially a strong silk thread used mainly to bind the edges of buttonholes.
2. Tobacco leaves processed into the form of a rope or roll.
3. A loaf of bread or other bakery product made from pieces of dough twisted together.
4. A sliver of citrus peel twisted over or dropped into a beverage for flavoring.
5. A complete rotation of the body around its vertical axis, as in diving and gymnastics.
6. A spinning motion given to a ball when thrown or struck in a specific way.
7. The state of being twisted into a spiral; torsional stress or strain.
8. The degree or angle of torsional stress.
9. A contortion or distortion of the body, especially the face.
10. A distortion of meaning: gave my words a misleading twist.
The act of twisting or the condition of being twisted; a spin, twirl, or rotation.
Sports
1. A complete rotation of the body around its vertical axis, as in diving and gymnastics.
2. A spinning motion given to a ball when thrown or struck in a specific way.
3. The state of being twisted into a spiral; torsional stress or strain.
4. The degree or angle of torsional stress.
5. A contortion or distortion of the body, especially the face.
6. A distortion of meaning: gave my words a misleading twist.
1. The state of being twisted into a spiral; torsional stress or strain.
2. The degree or angle of torsional stress.
3. A contortion or distortion of the body, especially the face.
4. A distortion of meaning: gave my words a misleading twist.
1. A contortion or distortion of the body, especially the face.
2. A distortion of meaning: gave my words a misleading twist.
A sprain or wrench, as of an ankle.
A change in direction; a turn: a sharp twist in the path.
An unexpected change in a process or a departure from a pattern, often producing a distortion or perversion: a twist of fate; a story with a quirky twist.
A personal inclination or eccentricity; a penchant or flaw: an odd twist to his character.
A dance characterized by vigorous gyrations of the hips and arms.

[Middle English twisten, to squeeze, be divided, from twist, a divided object, fork, rope, from Old English -twist; see dwo- in Indo-European roots.]
twist'a·bil'i·ty n., twist'a·ble adj., twist'ing·ly adv., twist'y adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Twist

Twist\, n. 1. Act of imparting a turning or twisting motion, as to a pitched ball; also, the motion thus imparted; as, the twist of a billiard ball.

2. A strong individual tendency, or bent; a marked inclination; a bias; -- often implying a peculiar or unusual tendency; as, a twist toward fanaticism.

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.

Twist

Twist\, v. i. 1. To be contorted; to writhe; to be distorted by torsion; to be united by winding round each other; to be or become twisted; as, some strands will twist more easily than others.

2. To follow a helical or spiral course; to be in the form of a helix.

Twist

Twist\, n. 1. The act of twisting; a contortion; a flexure; a convolution; a bending.

Not the least turn or twist in the fibers 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. --Addison.

2. The form given in twisting.

[He] shrunk at first sight of it; he found fault with the length, the thickness, and the twist. --Arbuthnot.

3. That which is formed by twisting, convoluting, or uniting parts. Specifically: (a) A cord, thread, or anything flexible, formed by winding strands or separate things round each other. (b) A kind of closely twisted, strong sewing silk, used by tailors, saddlers, and the like. (c) A kind of cotton yarn, of several varieties. (d) A roll of twisted dough, baked. (e) A little twisted roll of tobacco. (f) (Weaving) One of the threads of a warp, -- usually more tightly twisted than the filling. (g) (Firearms) A material for gun barrels, consisting of iron and steel twisted and welded together; as, Damascus twist. (h) (Firearms & Ord.) The spiral course of the rifling of a gun barrel or a cannon. (i) A beverage made of brandy and gin. [Slang]

4. [OE.; -- so called as being a two-forked branch. See Twist, v. t.] A twig. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Fairfax.

Gain twist, or Gaining twist (Firearms), twist of which the pitch is less, and the inclination greater, at the muzzle than at the breech.

Twist drill, a drill the body of which is twisted like that of an auger. See Illust. of Drill.

Uniform twist (Firearms), a twist of which the spiral course has an equal pitch throughout.

Language Translation for : Twist

Spanish: torcer; dar vueltas; (carretera, camino) serpentear,

German: drehen, sich winden,

Japanese: ひねる

More Translations »

twist (n.)

1350, "flat part of a hinge," probably from O.E. -twist (in mæsttwist "mast rope, stay;" candeltwist "wick"), from P.Gmc. *twis-, from root of two. Original senses suggest "dividing in two" (cf. cognate O.N. tvistra "to divide, separate," Goth. twis- "in two, asunder," Du. twist, Ger. zwist "quarrel, discord," though these senes have no equivalent in Eng.), but later ones are of "combining two into one," hence the original sense of the word may be "rope made of two strands." Meaning "thread or cord composed of two or more fibers" is recorded from 1555. Meaning "act or action of turning on an axis" is attested from 1576. Sense of "beverage consisting of two or more liquors" is first attested c.1700. Meaning "thick cord of tobacco" is from 1791. Meaning "curled piece of lemon, etc., used to flavor a drink" is recorded from 1958. Sense of "unexpected plot development" is from 1941. The popular rock 'n' roll dance craze is from 1961, but twist was used to describe popular dances in 1894 and again in the 1920s. To get one's knickers in a twist "be unduly agitated" is British slang first attested 1971.

twist (v.)

c.1325 (implied in p.t. twaste), "to wring," from the source of twist (n.). Sense of "to spin two or more strands of yarn into thread" is attested from 1471. Meaning "to move in a winding fashion" is recorded from 1635. To twist the lion's tail was U.S. slang (1895) for "to provoke British feeling."

twist

vigorous dance that developed in the early 1960s in the United States and became internationally popular after its adoption in fashionable circles. The twist's characteristic hip, arm, and leg movements have been described as "drying the buttocks with an imaginary towel while grinding out an imaginary cigarette with one foot." Partners synchronized body positions and gyrations but never touched. Dances that evolved from the twist-for example, the frug and the watusi-were invariably performed by shaking the pelvis. In these dances partners only sometimes coordinated their movements. Among the suggested precursors of the twist are included the shimmy and the black bottom, and a song that was popular before 1910 included the lines "Mama, mama, where is sis? / Down on the levee doin' the double twis'."

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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