Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Twist   Listen
verb
Twist  v. t.  (past & past part. twisted; pres. part. twisting)  
1.
To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve. "Twist it into a serpentine form."
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."
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?"
8.
To form into a thread from many fine filaments; as, to twist wool or cotton.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Twist" Quotes from Famous Books



... investigation of complex problems with a spiritual and emotional nature manifesting itself in swift and simple solutions of those problems; it united an analytic or discursive power supplied by the head with an intuitive power springing from the heart. He employed his brain to twist and tangle a Gordian knot in order that in a moment it might be cut with the sword of the spirit. In the earlier poems his spiritual ardours and intuitions were often present throughout, and without latency, without reserve; impassioned truth often flashed ...
— Robert Browning • Edward Dowden

... Virginian, Patrick Henry, who certainly had a fair chance to observe the effects of slavery, says, "If a man be in chains, he droops and bows to the earth, because his spirits are broken; but let him twist the fetters off his legs and he will ...
— An Appeal in Favor of that Class of Americans Called Africans • Lydia Maria Child

... the gooseberries and currants, was the wilderness of our garden: you came on it by a sudden labyrinthine twist at the end of a narrow alley of yew, and a sudden door in the high wall. My uncle said he liked well to see roses in the kitchen-garden, but not gooseberries in the flower-garden, especially a wild flower-garden. Wherein lies the difference, I never quite ...
— The Flight of the Shadow • George MacDonald

... wondered if there was anything he could buy to-day that would give him the thrill his first books had given. He had almost forgotten what a thrill could mean. But who cared for books nowadays? The men and women he knew, with few exceptions, wouldn't give a twist of their necks to see his, would as soon think of reading them as of talking Dutch at a dinner-party, and very probably they were right. Knowledge added little to human happiness. Science and skill could do nothing for General. Poor General! Again he smoothed ...
— The Man in Lonely Land • Kate Langley Bosher

... replied; and only by her tone he read the guilty little rejoicing in her heart, marvelling at jealousy that could twist so straight a stem as his sister's spirit. This had taught her, who knew nothing of love, that a man loving does not pity in ...
— The Shaving of Shagpat • George Meredith

... times," so that even the rudest and most savage peoples respected ploughmen and tillers of the soil in time of war. He then quotes some melancholy verses of Virgil, and gives the whole chapter a twist of humour by ending up with—"But not a word of this in any case, especially that I told you so; and we will proceed to the next ...
— Lynton and Lynmouth - A Pageant of Cliff & Moorland • John Presland

... days' time at the furthest. I think I ought to know what men are, my dear" (and to do Lady Scapegrace justice, she had studied that variety of the creation to some purpose, or she was much maligned). "I know that they can't, any of them, see three yards before their noses, and that you can turn and twist them which way you will if you only go upon this principle—that they are full of vanity and self-conceit, and totally ...
— Kate Coventry - An Autobiography • G. J. Whyte-Melville

... and miles away. Then it drew nearer, until he knew that it was a light in a cabin window. He dragged himself toward it, and when he came to the door he tried to shout. But no sound fell from his swollen lips. It seemed an hour before he could twist his feet out of his snow-shoes. Then he groped for a latch, pressed against the ...
— Isobel • James Oliver Curwood

... at him and his precious cats. But are not we all crazy on some subject; has not each one of us some hobby or idiosyncrasy which makes us appear more or less demented to our neighbors? And just because the twist in our poor Father's mind takes the particular form of a love for cats: why should we, how dare we, say he is crazy? No, he was no more crazy than are we; and perhaps his beautiful cats kept him from becoming so, in very sooth, forced ...
— Old Mission Stories of California • Charles Franklin Carter

... up-bringing of the young, and any amount of New England thrift. He had unlimited respect for her strength of character; but also his opinion as to why she was still Miss Clyde. "Maybe I've a queer mental twist," he went on audibly, "but that's just what I don't see the need of. Poor folk have to worry about making ends meet; but if money is of any use at all it's to save one that kind of fretting. When one feels the 'responsibility ...
— Blue Bonnet's Ranch Party • C. E. Jacobs

... now to care for the horses and prepare for the trip to Verdun," decided Fritz, with a twist of ...
— Boy Scouts Mysterious Signal - or Perils of the Black Bear Patrol • G. Harvey Ralphson

... articles consisted of what might be termed the necessaries and luxuries of life; and the duties were reduced on some to the amount of one hundred per cent. The articles enumerated in the resolution were agates, or cornelians; ale and beer; almonds; amber (manufactures of); arrowroot; band-string twist; bailey, pearled; bast-ropes; twines, and strands; beads: coral; crystal; jet; beer or mum; blacking; brass manufactures; brass (powder of); brocade of gold or silver; bronze (manufactures of); bronze-powder; buck-wheat: butter; buttons; candles; ...
— The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. - From George III. to Victoria • E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

... arm of another person, we naturally shrink and draw back our own leg or our own arm; and when it does fall, we feel it in some measure and are hurt by it as well as the sufferer. The mob, when they are gazing at a dancer on the slack rope, naturally writhe and twist and balance their own bodies as they see him do, and as they feel that they themselves must do if in his situation. Persons of delicate fibers and a weak constitution of body complain that in looking on the ...
— Introduction to the Science of Sociology • Robert E. Park

... here," Will observed, trying another direction. "Arch, get out your knife, and see if you can rip up this can a little. Jove, but it's snug! We can dispense with a little of that music, my fine fellow. There—you—are," as Archie, with a final careful twist, drew off the can. Once out of its tin bondage, the little creature seemed too frightened to move, and suddenly curled down under the protecting table-cover, to restore its ruffled fur, with ...
— Cricket at the Seashore • Elizabeth Westyn Timlow

... an angle. The pipe, with the first blow, will start to bend. With a few more strokes the desired bend will be obtained. The bending spring can now be pulled out. Put a little water in the pipe, then put one end of the spring in the vise, twist the pipe, and the spring will come out when the pipe is pulled away from it. The bending spring holds the pipe cylindrical while it is being bent. Without the spring, the pipe would be badly crushed at the bend ...
— Elements of Plumbing • Samuel Dibble

... two inches more, but now the log began to crack, for the strain upon it was tremendous. Messmer heard the ominous sound, and, with a twist, loosened himself and began to crawl forth. Dave ...
— Dave Porter in the Far North - or, The Pluck of an American Schoolboy • Edward Stratemeyer

... vinegar, and oil. All this indeed cannot be done out of one tree, but may out of several of the same kind. They saw the trunk into planks, and sew them together with thread which they spin out of the bark, and which they twist for the cables; the leaves stitched together make the sails. This boat thus equipped may be furnished with all necessaries from the same tree. There is not a month in which the cocoa does not produce a bunch of nuts, from twenty to fifty. At first sprouts out ...
— A Voyage to Abyssinia • Jerome Lobo

... government allowed of in the dictatorial power. But in general, Cromwell's government was limited by law: and no reign in that century, prior to the revolution, furnishes fewer instances of attempts to tamper with the laws —to overrule them—to twist them to private interpretations—or to dispense with them. As to his major-generals of counties, who figure in most histories of England as so many Ali Pachas that impaled a few prisoners every morning before breakfast—or rather as so many ogres that ate up good Christian men, women and ...
— The Notebook of an English Opium-Eater • Thomas de Quincey

... and other peoples from the North gradually crossed the frontier and settled in the territory of Latin-speaking peoples. In the sixth century, for instance, the Lombards in Italy, the Franks in France, and the Visigoths in Spain would each give to the Latin which they spoke a twist peculiar to themselves, and out of the one Latin came Italian, out of the second, the language of France, and out of the third, Spanish. This initial impulse toward the development of Latin along different lines in Italy, France, and Spain was, of course, reinforced by differences in ...
— The Common People of Ancient Rome - Studies of Roman Life and Literature • Frank Frost Abbott

... isn't love. I adore Annabella, but I don't love her; and I love thee, Milicent, but I don't adore thee.' In proof of his affection, he clutched a handful of her light brown ringlets, and appeared to twist them unmercifully. ...
— The Tenant of Wildfell Hall • Anne Bronte

... summoned by a Waterman, or Nix, to aid a woman in labour, was told by the latter: "I am a Christian woman as well as you; and I was carried off by a Waterman, who changed me. When my husband comes in now and offers you money, take no more from him than you usually get, or else he will twist your neck. Take good care!" And in another tale, told at Kemnitz of the Nicker, as he is there called, when he asks the midwife how much he owes her, she answers that she will take no more from him than from ...
— The Science of Fairy Tales - An Inquiry into Fairy Mythology • Edwin Sidney Hartland

... He had lengthened out now with a spiral-spring, cork-screw twist in his body, his index finger serving as point. "Paid every one of them. He never cared, sir—he GLOried in it—GLOried in being a pauper. UNaccountable, Mr. Rutter—Enormously unaccountable. Never heard of such a case; never WILL hear of such a case. So ...
— Kennedy Square • F. Hopkinson Smith

... sack containing the testicles. Sometimes there may be a strangulation of the intestines where they fold or twist. They become inflamed and produce death. The pig dies in great pain, but fortunately, strangulated ruptures in pigs are very rare, as the scrotum and canal which the intestines occupy relax and ...
— The Veterinarian • Chas. J. Korinek

... Walter managed to twist his head around until he obtained a glimpse of what was going on. "Don't try it, Charley," he implored, "or there will be two of ...
— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely

... his mouth with the back of his hand, bit into a twist of tobacco, spat derisively, and said: "This pup Beacraft swares he'll lift my haar 'fore he gits through with me! Threatened men live long. Kindly tell him me an' my sons ...
— The Maid-At-Arms • Robert W. Chambers

... sudden twist he whipped Ravanne's sword out of his hand and sent it flying some twenty paces from him. This time Ravanne profited by the advice. He went slowly to pick up his sword, and came back quietly to the captain; but the young man was as pale as his ...
— The Conspirators - The Chevalier d'Harmental • Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

... attaching the oil lines to the fuel unit. Overtightening or twisting will twist the pump-motor mounting plate and put a ...
— Installation and Operation Instructions For Custom Mark III CP Series Oil Fired Unit • Anonymous

... door remaining open. I seized him by the collar before he could recover himself from the pass he had made at me, and with a jerk and a kind of twist, laid him under the hind wheel of his chariot. I wrenched his sword from him, and snapped it, and flung the ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol VII • Various

... that you will be safe there, in the present state of the dean's suspicions. No; tuck up those confounded petticoats, clap on your pea-jacket, twist those love-locks up under your cap, light this cigar, and sit in your easy-chair. The dean must be 'cuter than usual, if he finds you out as the lady he ...
— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 54, No. 338, December 1843 • Various

... fresh eggs very light, make them into a stiff paste, with flour and water; knead it well, and roll it very thin, cut it in narrow strips, give them a twist, and dry them quickly, on tin sheets or dishes, in the sun or a moderate oven; soak them a few minutes in cold water, and put them in chicken soup. They are very good ...
— Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers • Elizabeth E. Lea

... remember the time when we used to meet in "the pepper-pots," over the way), My daubs were always hung on the line, for ourselves we used to judge, Our sole Ideal conventional cant, our technique broad brown smudge. And now BURNE JONES's pictures sell!!!"—here he writhed with a spectral twist— "And our 'broad brown smudge' gives way to the fudge cranks call 'Impressionist.' I've lost my head, as perhaps you mark—though I keep a ventriloquist tongue. What's the use of a head to an Artist Ghost, who has never a ...
— Punch, Or The London Charivari, Vol. 101, December 5, 1891 • Various

... hung on wide, outstretched wings, as the others had done, its head towards me. I drew a deep breath, lifted the rifle, got the foresight dead upon its breast, and touched the hair-trigger. As the charge exploded I saw the aasvogel give a kind of backward twist. Next instant I heard a loud clap, and a surge of joy went through me, for I thought that the bullet had found its billet. But ...
— Marie - An Episode in The Life of the late Allan Quatermain • H. Rider Haggard

... divided. The hybrid varieties may now be layered. This is done as follows: Select a shoot and bend it flat upon the ground; hold it in both hands, having a distance of about 6 in. between them; keep the left hand firm, and with the right give the shoot a sharp twist; now cover it with 4 in. of earth and tie the free ...
— Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) • L. H. Bailey

... watched Bart tying on Lucy's hat, puffing out the big bow under her chin, smoothing her hair from the flying strings. Lucy's eyes were dancing, her face turned toward Bart's, her pretty lips near his own. There was a knot or a twist, or a collection of knots and twists, or perhaps Bart's fingers bungled, for minutes passed before the hat could be fastened to suit either of them. Martha's head had all this time been thrust out of the easement, her ...
— The Tides of Barnegat • F. Hopkinson Smith

... moment that Ivan, quicker than the others, seized the rifle in his two hands. He gave a quick twist and jerked the weapon from the hands of his opponent. The latter staggered back and his hand dropped to his belt. But before he could draw a revolver, Ivan had raised his newly won rifle and brought it down on the Bulgarian's head. The man dropped ...
— The Boy Allies in the Balkan Campaign - The Struggle to Save a Nation • Clair W. Hayes

... gooseberry-pie was not to be had, Over the misty sea, oh, He'd twine and twist like an eel gone mad, Or a worm just stung ...
— Pinafore Palace • Various

... mighty god himself. Mortal! You yourself are fast! Doubt not Pan shall come at last To put a leer within your eyes That pry into his mysteries. He shall touch the busy brain Lest it ever teem again; Point the ears and twist the feet, Till by day you dare not meet Men, or in the failing light Mutter more than, ...
— Georgian Poetry 1911-12 • Various

... had told me meant "big trout." Without looking up or turning his head, he said to me in perfect English, "What sort of lingo are you giving me, young man? The true pronunciation of those words is," and then he repeated "Muy mahe," with just a little twist to his words that I had not given them. Resuming the conversation he remarked, "Why not speak English? When both parties understand it, it is much more comfortable. I intended to catch but one fish, but as you have admired this one, allow me to ...
— Out of Doors—California and Oregon • J. A. Graves

... like he never saw. But how vastly more romantic was the Scotland of Scott than is the Scotland of Stevenson! The Vicar of Wakefield and Squire Western are not to be found in an age that is busy with railways and telegraphs and the Review of Reviews. Pickwick and Oliver Twist have been improved off the face of the earth by cheap newspapers and sanitary reform. The fun has gone out of Vanity Fair, and the House of the Seven Gables is an ...
— Studies in Early Victorian Literature • Frederic Harrison

... peas to Royalty were fairly exhausted. But apparently Mr. EDGAR JEPSON does not share this view; and it is only fair to admit that in The Professional Prince (HUTCHINSON) he has contrived to give a novel twist to the already well laboured theme. Prince Richard (precise nationality unstated) was so bored with the common round of his exalted duties that, hearing of a convenient double, he engages him, at four hundred a year and pickings, to represent him at dull functions, and incidentally to pay the ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 153, Oct. 3, 1917 • Various

... lurch, a twist, a sharp descent, and the breathless horses halted on the bank of a stream whose shallow waters were crowded with flatboats, generally ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 90, April, 1865 • Various

... to finish with a mild anecdote which carries its moral. Now, understand that I never pretended to be a crack shot, though I did make fair practice through "the Indian twist," the sling supporting one's arm; if I hit the target occasionally, I was satisfied. But it once happened (at Teignmouth, where I was a casual visitor) that, seeing a squad of volunteers practising at a mark on ...
— My Life as an Author • Martin Farquhar Tupper

... supple twist Margery turned herself, hammock and all, and stood on her feet on the ground. "Martin!" she cried, at ...
— The Associate Hermits • Frank R. Stockton

... centipedes. They are ugly-looking creatures. One dreads a close contact with them. They run and twist about as if they felt they ...
— Scenes in the Hawaiian Islands and California • Mary Evarts Anderson

... dough, one gill of the best Florence oil, half a pound of currants, half a pound of moist sugar, and a little cinnamon; mix all well together, make it up in the form of a twist, and ...
— The Jewish Manual • Judith Cohen Montefiore

... I saw them, because I didn't!" replied Christian, who had ceased to struggle, but was as far as ever from submission; "but if I had, you might twist my arm till it was like an old pig's tail and I ...
— Mount Music • E. Oe. Somerville and Martin Ross

... only after death that the broken body was placed on a wheel, which was turned round on a pivot. Sometimes, however, the sentence ordered that the condemned should be strangled before being broken, which was done in such cases by the instantaneous twist of ...
— Manners, Custom and Dress During the Middle Ages and During the Renaissance Period • Paul Lacroix

... true? " Peter was extremely solemn. " Say, me bucko," said Coleman suddenly, " if you've. come up here to twist the beard of the patriarch, don't you think you are running ...
— Active Service • Stephen Crane

... pleasure; there was so much sweetness and feeling in their melody. Zachariah made up for his brother's timidity. Full of fun, what dreadful faces the young Gipsy would pull, they were absolutely frightful; then he would twist and turn his body into all sorts of serpentine contortions. If spoken to he would suddenly, with a hop, skip, and a jump alight in his tent as if he had tumbled from the sky, and, sitting bolt upright, make a hideous ...
— Gipsy Life - being an account of our Gipsies and their children • George Smith

... thoughts it is so I am always; and I go on telling myself about this thing that is to befall and that. Then it comes to the place of the fighting, and it comes over me that I am only a girl at all events, and cannot hold a sword or give one good blow; and then I have to twist my story round about, so that the fighting is to stop, and yet me have the best of it, just like you and the lieutenant; and I am the boy that makes the fine speeches all through, like Mr. ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 11 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... proposed a list of members to serve on the Education Committee in a couple of sentences with a humorous twist in them which disarmed criticism.] "On a former occasion I was accused of having a proclivity in favour of the clergy, and recollecting this, I have only given them in this instance a fair proportion of the representation. If, however, I have omitted any gentleman who thinks ...
— The Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley Volume 2 • Leonard Huxley

... say, though, you gave me a twist when I came on you suddenly. Maybe it's your epigastric nerve; maybe it's your liver and will pass off, but I'd knock off work for a day or ...
— The Veiled Lady - and Other Men and Women • F. Hopkinson Smith

... the day of his death that wild passage through the mountains. Now it was some sudden twist to avoid a precipice, now a jerk and a halt whilst Jose stared into the darkness ahead of him; here the car jolted suddenly over great stones, then it sank to the axle in soft dust; at another place the bushes whipped their faces; and ...
— The Summons • A.E.W. Mason

... said something with a sly up-twist of his voice. Whatever and whoever the Invaders were, he said, they did not like Bulgarians. If they'd knocked out the raiding party simply to test their weapons against human subjects, at least they had chosen suitable and pleasing ...
— The Invaders • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... sent to Vienna to study. When he was eleven years old, after one of his concerts, Beethoven kissed him. He survived. Then on to Paris and duchesses and princesses galore. Here he became a proverb of popularity as "Le petit Litz"—the French inevitably gave some twist to a foreign name, then as to-day, when two of their favourite painters are "Wisthler" ...
— The Love Affairs of Great Musicians, Volume 2 • Rupert Hughes

... provisions to be given to their chief, with which he was greatly pleased, and came several times to the side of our boat to see us. These savages shave off the hair far up on the head, and wear what remains very long, which they comb and twist behind in various ways very neatly, intertwined with feathers which they attach to the head. They paint their faces black and red, like the other savages which we have seen. They are an agile people, ...
— Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, Vol. 2 • Samuel de Champlain

... little to the west, and finally runs to the south behind Mount Sion. When the procession was near this gate, the brutal archers shoved Jesus into a stagnant pool, which was close to it; Simon of Cyrene, in his endeavours to avoid the pool, gave the cross a twist, which caused Jesus to fall down for the fourth time in the midst of the dirty mud, and Simon had the greatest difficulty in lifting up the cross again. Jesus then exclaimed in a tone which, although clear, was moving and sad: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ...
— The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ • Anna Catherine Emmerich

... stopped, a crusty ol' mince pie Jumped from its plate and glared at me and winked its little eye; "You boy," it says, "Thanksgivin' Day, don't dare ter touch a slice Of me, for if you do, I'll come and cramp you like a vise. I'll root you, and I'll boot you, and I'll twist you till you squeal, I'll stand on edge and roll around your stomach like a wheel; I'll hunch you, and I'll punch you, and I'll ...
— Cape Cod Ballads, and Other Verse • Joseph C. Lincoln

... stones from the ground, which he flung, and again caught as they descended. Never were there more complete Centaurs than these Hamran Arabs; the horse and man appeared to be one animal, and that of the most elastic nature, that could twist and turn with the suppleness of a snake; the fact of their being separate beings was proved by the rider springing to the earth with his drawn sword while the horse was in full gallop over rough and difficult ground, and clutching the mane, he again vaulted into the saddle ...
— The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia • Samuel W. Baker

... horror came about. For the rod began to twist in my hand and when I stared at it, lo! it was a long, yellow snake which I held by the tail. I threw the reptile down with a scream, for it was turning its head as though to strike me, and there in the dust it twisted and writhed away from me and towards Ki. Yet an instant later it was only a ...
— Moon of Israel • H. Rider Haggard

... selecting those which are most agreeable to their palates, and arranging them in two enormous faggots. When they have collected as much as they think they require, they make withies and bind up their two faggots, and then twist another to connect the two, so as to hang them over their backs down on each side, and having thus made their provision, they return home; the keeper may or may not be present during this performance. All depends ...
— Olla Podrida • Frederick Marryat (AKA Captain Marryat)

... rejoined, with a laugh. "Gulden's the mad one. He's crazy. He's got a twist in his brain. I'm no fool.... I've only lost my head over you. But compare marrying me, living and traveling among decent people and comfort, to camps like this. If I don't get drunk I'll be half decent to you. But I'll ...
— The Border Legion • Zane Grey

... the problem by adopting the "gaining twist," in which the grooves start from the breech nearly parallel to the axis of the barrel, and gradually increase the spiral, until, at the muzzle, it has the pitch of one revolution in three to four; the pitch being greater as the bore is less. This gives, as a result, safety from stripping, ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 4, No. 24, Oct. 1859 • Various

... Let others ride to glory, I'll shoe their horses for the gallop Lighted candles in hollowed pumpkins Love has nothing to do with ugliness or beauty, or fortune Nature twists in back, or anywhere, gets a twist in's brain too Rewarded for its mistakes Some are hurt in one way and some in another Struggle of conscience ...
— Quotations From Gilbert Parker • David Widger

... rolling on his back. That twist of his head had overbalanced him. And before he could recover himself and scramble to his feet, we had sprang over the fence and got him securely tied with our ...
— Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2) - or Settler and Maori in Northern New Zealand • William Delisle Hay

... the possibility of getting stuck again whilst crossing made me feel anything but easy. Full tilt, I told my driver, we must trust to speed to get across. On went the lower gear; a right-hand twist of the wheel and we were on the field; the speed gradually grew less, the back wheels buzzed round but ...
— How I Filmed the War - A Record of the Extraordinary Experiences of the Man Who - Filmed the Great Somme Battles, etc. • Lieut. Geoffrey H. Malins

... tea and half coffee; likewise brandy, beer, and eggs. A good twist; a good appetite. To twist it ...
— 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue • Captain Grose et al.

... and the unprotected folds of the sheets were exposed to wear. This was remedied by covering the backs with a strip of leather running lengthwise of the sheets. Vellum, however, is particularly liable to warp and twist. This was prevented by putting the sheets between boards. The next step was to fasten the boards to the package of leaves by extending the edges of the leather strip on the back and fastening them to the edges of the boards, which were then fastened at the opposite edges by clasps. The bound book ...
— Books Before Typography - Typographic Technical Series for Apprentices #49 • Frederick W. Hamilton

... the boat, here looked toward him, and seeing that he was intently searching for something, asked what was the matter. Brown answered that a snake was in the boat and that he was trying to find it. Here Jones commenced to twist and squirm. "Hallo!" said Brown: "here's another!" No sooner had he said another when Jones sprang into the canal. He made several lunges and, Peter like, looked as if he was walking on the water. Smith added more steam to the boat and Jones was overhauled and taken into the boat, very much ...
— The Dismal Swamp and Lake Drummond, Early recollections - Vivid portrayal of Amusing Scenes • Robert Arnold

... curly lip took a new twist upward. He immediately replied, to the best practical purpose, by producing the handbill from ...
— No Name • Wilkie Collins

... the officer firmly, and with another twist of Jimmy's badly wilted collar he turned to Alfred with his most civil manner, "What shall I do with ...
— Baby Mine • Margaret Mayo

... self. It seems so selfish to have one. I am anything—a fay, a sprite, an elf." She freed her hands with a sudden twist and ran laughing up ...
— Dreamers of the Ghetto • I. Zangwill

... the drooping moustache to the right and then to the left, with a little twist each time, which turned the hair to a sharp point in its furthest downward reach near his chin. To the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, while his eyes, sad with a perpetual mist, looked over the lake and far away to ...
— Trailin'! • Max Brand

... With a lightning twist, she was free, and on her feet before him. She stepped back, and the lighter-gun was in ...
— Rebels of the Red Planet • Charles Louis Fontenay

... depart, And lead, thyself, the way; but give me, first, (If thou have one already hewn) a staff To lean on, for ye have described the road Rugged, and ofttimes dang'rous to the foot. So saying, his tatter'd wallet o'er his back He cast, suspended by a leathern twist, Eumaeus gratified him with a staff, And forth they went, leaving the cottage kept 240 By dogs and swains. He city-ward his King Led on, in form a squalid beggar old, Halting, and in unseemly garb attired. But when, slow-travelling the craggy way, They ...
— The Odyssey of Homer • Homer

... and had time to note the box of studs, German shaving tackle and rolls of twist which lay untidily in the window ere Smith kicked the door open, clattered down three wooden steps, and pulled himself up with a jerk, ...
— The Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu • Sax Rohmer

... very jealousy. By God, in earth I was his purgatory, For which I hope his soul may be in glory. For, God it wot, he sat full oft and sung, When that his shoe full bitterly him wrung.* *pinched There was no wight, save God and he, that wist In many wise how sore I did him twist. He died when I came from Jerusalem, And lies in grave under the *roode beam:* *cross* Although his tomb is not so curious As was the sepulchre of Darius, Which that Apelles wrought so subtlely. It is but waste to bury them preciously. Let him fare well, God give his soule rest, He is ...
— The Canterbury Tales and Other Poems • Geoffrey Chaucer

... something which he has not made and cannot always subdue, and which may not always be subdued by others for him. Who plans the steps that lead lives on to splendid glories, or twist them into gnarled sacrifices, or make of them dark, disdainful, contentious tragedies? The soul within? And ...
— The Titan • Theodore Dreiser

... of this encumbrance, Mr. Weller gave his body a sudden wrench to one side, and by a dexterous twist, contrived to get his right hand into a most capacious pocket, from whence, after a great deal of panting and exertion, he extricated a pocket-book of the large octavo size, fastened by a huge leathern strap. From this ledger he drew forth a couple of whiplashes, three ...
— The Pickwick Papers • Charles Dickens

... the rope that held Teddy's feet, and the boy did a half turn in the air, his feet suddenly flopping over until he found himself in an upright position. But the twist of the body had given him a fearful wrench, drawing a loud "ouch!" from Teddy. To add to his troubles Tucker found ...
— The Circus Boys on the Plains • Edgar B. P. Darlington

... home, but he did not forget. He was sure that this latest twist would only pile up trouble ...
— Don Strong, Patrol Leader • William Heyliger

... no use to him here, for he could not have stared ten wild boars in the face at once; so he kept on playing, and the wild boars danced very slowly, as if in a minuet, then by degrees he played faster and faster till they could hardly twist and turn quickly enough, and ended by all falling over each other in a heap, quite exhausted ...
— The Crimson Fairy Book • Various

... the sharp, swift twist of feeling, hardly remembered Imogen's forecasts and warnings, hardly remembered that Mrs. Upton's gladness and Sir Basil's beaming gaze put Imogen quite dreadfully in the right. He did not think of Imogen at all, nor of the desecration of the house of mourning by this gladness, so absorbed was ...
— A Fountain Sealed • Anne Douglas Sedgwick

... operator from Michigan. The Colonel's Michigan lands had been logged off, and since he had had one taste of cheap timber, having seen fifty-cent stumpage go to five dollars, the Colonel, like Oliver Twist, desired some more of the same. On his previous visit to Sequoia he had seen his chance awaiting him in the gradually decreasing market for redwood lumber and the corresponding increase of melancholia in the redwood operators; hence he had returned to Michigan, closed out his business ...
— The Valley of the Giants • Peter B. Kyne

... ha stopped my ears an run wheniver I seed a livin creetur. What do I keer?—what doos it matter to me what he saw? I doan't bleeve he saw owt, if yo ast me. He wor skeert wi his own thinkins, an th' cowd gripped him i' th' in'ards, an twisted him as yo may twist a withe of hay—Aye! it wor a cruel neet. When I opened t' door i' t' early mornin, t' garden wor aw black—th' ice on t' reservoir wor inches thick. Mony a year afterwards t' foak round here ud talk o' that for an April frost. An my poor 'Lias—lost on that ...
— The History of David Grieve • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... Edward Leeford, a violent man, subject to fits. Edward Leeford, though half-brother to Oliver Twist, was in collusion with Bill Sykes, to ruin him. Failing in this, he retired to America, and died in jail.—C. ...
— Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama - A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 • E. Cobham Brewer

... ground now and I guess I'll let her out," said Miss Auriole. "Don't be frightened, Norah. These things look big and strong, but it's quite wonderful what they'll do when there's a bit of human sense running them. See that your goggles are right and twist your veil in a bit tighter, I'm going to ...
— The World Peril of 1910 • George Griffith

... attached to a thin broad hoop supported by arms so twisted as also to form part of a screw. The propeller subsequently applied to the steamship 'Princeton' was identical with my said design of 1835. Even the mode adopted to determine, by geometrical construction, the twist of the blades and arms of the 'Princeton's' and other propellers was identical with my design of the ...
— Beacon Lights of History, Volume XIV • John Lord

... more, except to ask me to twist him a cigarette or two, and when we reached Tucson I turned him ...
— Arizona's Yesterday - Being the Narrative of John H. Cady, Pioneer • John H. Cady

... stone pillars of the portico, he looked toward the south turret and saw Dr. Fenneben as Vic had seen Elinor on the evening of the May storm. He did not call, but with a twist of the fingers as of unlocking a door, he dodged back into the building and up to the chapel end of the turret ...
— A Master's Degree • Margaret Hill McCarter

... was seen to struggle above his head with the hovering and flapping cloth, as though he had captured a black and pugnacious bird. We mastered at last a corner each, and then we started to twist the whole, as if to wring the water out. We produced, thus, a sort of short rope, the thickness of a ...
— Romance • Joseph Conrad and F.M. Hueffer

... the young is completed in a few days or weeks, to have been spread over thousands of generations during the development of these fish, those usually surviving whose eyes retained more and more of the position into which the young fish tried to twist them [italics mine], the change becomes intelligible." {261} When it was said by Professor Ray Lankester—who knows as well as most people what Lamarck taught— that this was "flat Lamarckism," Mr. Wallace rejoined that it was the ...
— The Humour of Homer and Other Essays • Samuel Butler

... watching birds (avium inspectione). These are chiefly wont to be observed in birds, the former by the ear, the latter by the eye. If, however, these observations have for their object men's words uttered unintentionally, which someone twist so as to apply to the future that he wishes to foreknow, then it is called an "omen": and as Valerius Maximus [*De Dict. Fact. Memor. i, 5] remarks, "the observing of omens has a touch of religion mingled with it, for it is believed to ...
— Summa Theologica, Part II-II (Secunda Secundae) • Thomas Aquinas

... because they swarm in most animal or vegetable infusions) similar difficulties encounter us. The little creatures, many of which are round or oval in form, from time to time become constricted in the middle; the constriction becomes deeper and deeper, and at length the two halves twist themselves apart and swim away. In this case, therefore, there was one, and there are now two exactly similar; but are these two individuals? They are not parent and offspring—that is clear, for they are of the same ...
— The Beauties of Nature - and the Wonders of the World We Live In • Sir John Lubbock

... and broad chest; level back, and loin; broad hips; large, and well-spread udder, with its silky covering of hair, and clean, taper, wide-standing teats, giving twenty to thirty quarts of rich milk in a day; deep thigh, and twist; light tail; small, short legs; and, added to this, her brilliant and ever-varying colors of all, and every-intermingling shades of red, and white, or either of them alone; such, singly, or in groups, standing quietly under the shade of trees, grazing in the open field, or quietly resting ...
— Rural Architecture - Being a Complete Description of Farm Houses, Cottages, and Out Buildings • Lewis Falley Allen

... better than this change of arena for the exercise of her wilfulness and witchery. Before she had been many days in the French capital she was able to twist her aunt round her little finger—indeed her power of captivating was, to the end of her life, her chief dower—and to obtain all the freedom she wanted. And it was not long before her allurements won the admiration of the dissolute Duc de Beaufort, High Admiral of France, a man skilled ...
— Love Romances of the Aristocracy • Thornton Hall

... inch thick. Spread with softened butter, fold one-third of the side over the center and the opposite side on top of that, making three layers. Cut this into strips about 3/4 inch wide, cover, and let rise. When light, twist the ends of each piece in the opposite direction, coil, and bring the ends together on the top of the cake. Let rise in pans for 20 minutes, and bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes. Upon removing from the oven, brush ...
— Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4 • Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

... fifteen or twenty miles on a perfectly even keel, the apparatus automatically working the elevators and ailerons of the craft as various wind currents tended to disturb its equilibrium. At length, John gave a little twist to the rudder, and the way the Sky-Bird began to circle, and to bank of her own accord, was a splendid sight to behold. No hawk, sailing over a barnyard in quest of an unwary fowl, could have performed ...
— Around the World in Ten Days • Chelsea Curtis Fraser

... Hone, a faculty he exercised at length over a wide area; the works illustrated by him include, among hundreds of others, "Grimm's Stories," "Peter Schlemihl," Scott's "Demonology," Dickens's "Oliver Twist," and Ainsworth's "Jack Shepherd"; like Hogarth, he was a moralist as well as an artist, and as a total abstainer he consecrated his art at length to dramatise the fearful downward career of the drunkard; his greatest work, done ...
— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... and plenty of fuel. But the sensation oppressed him. He could not keep away from him his mental vision of Breault as he had helped to pry him from the sledge—his frozen features, the stiffened fingers, the curious twist of the icy lips that had been ...
— Back to God's Country and Other Stories • James Oliver Curwood

... gave him a curious twist in his heart. Poor thing! He remembered what she had been when first he knew her. ...
— Of Human Bondage • W. Somerset Maugham

... So Sera, with a twist of her lithe body and a merry gleam in her full, big eyes, sang another song; and then long, bony MacBride came over to her and kissed her on her fair, smooth forehead, whispered something that we did not hear, and pointed to Charley de Buis, who stood, ...
— Ridan The Devil And Other Stories - 1899 • Louis Becke

... determined. resulta result. resultar to result, turn out. resumen m. summary; en —— in short. resumir to make a resume, resume, epitomize. retemblido m. tremor, start. retirar to retire, withdraw. retorcer to twist. retrato portrait. retroceder to retreat. reunion f. meeting. reunir to unite, reunite, combine, gather. revelar to reveal. revendedor m. retailer, huckster. reventar to burst, wear out. reverberante reverberating, reflecting. reverberar to reverberate, reflect. ...
— Novelas Cortas • Pedro Antonio de Alarcon

... Captain was so particular in the arrangement of his cravat, as to twist the pendent ends into a sort of pigtail, and pass them through a massive gold ring with a picture of a tomb upon it, and a neat iron railing, and a tree, in memory of some deceased friend. Nor why the Captain pulled up his shirt-collar to the utmost ...
— Dombey and Son • Charles Dickens

... step quickly, increasing the stride of it, but the worn nails of his shoe skated on the farther slope of the depression. He fell on his face, and without pause slipped down and into the crack, his legs hanging clear, his chest supported by the stick which he had managed to twist crosswise as ...
— Smoke Bellew • Jack London

... engine should turn over briskly at every stroke of the pump, providing it does not come to rest at "dead center." If it does come to rest at "dead center," where no air can enter the piston, the crankshaft should be given a little twist and the engine will then start. Before steam is applied it will be well to experiment until the engine runs ...
— Boys' Book of Model Boats • Raymond Francis Yates

... more completely, that they curse the iron bars. Then Lancelot asserts that, with the Queen's consent, he will come inside to be with her, and that the bars cannot keep him out. And the Queen replies: "Do you not see how the bars are stiff to bend and hard to break? You could never so twist, pull or drag at them as to dislodge one of them." "Lady," says he, "have no fear of that. It would take more than these bars to keep me out. Nothing but your command could thwart my power to come to you. If you will but grant me your permission, the way will open before me. But if it ...
— Four Arthurian Romances - "Erec et Enide", "Cliges", "Yvain", and "Lancelot" • Chretien de Troyes

... it is with thread. You have to draw it out until every portion of it is as strong as every other—a pretty little conundrum! It is the drawing, twisting, and doubling which makes the thread first uniform and then strong. Try working-out devices that shall do all these things—devices that shall twist and then double without untwisting, for example. You'll find it worse than a ...
— Carl and the Cotton Gin • Sara Ware Bassett

... fair maid And fresh as any flower, Whom Harpalus the herdman prayed To be his paramour. Harpalus and eke Corin Were herdmen, both yfere; And Phylida could twist and spin, And thereto sing full clear. But Phylida was all too coy For Harpalus to win; For Corin was her only joy, Who forced her not a pin. How often would she flowers twine, How often garlands make, Of cowslips and of columbine, And all for Corin's sake! ...
— Tudor and Stuart Love Songs • Various

... "I'll soon twist up a couple of torches such as I used to make when I was Prime Minister of the Cannibal Islands," cried Pat Casey. "I think we could find our way to the left, where I saw some big rocks this morning, and I should not be surprised to ...
— The Three Admirals • W.H.G. Kingston

... should not be judged by the mind that produces stuff of this sort: "Little Jimmy had a little white pig." "Did the little pig know Jimmy?" "Yes, the little pig knew Jimmy, and would come when he called." "How did little Jimmy know his pig from the other little pigs?" "By the twist in his tail." ("Children," asks the teacher, "what is the meaning of 'twist'?") "Jimmy liked to stride the little pig's back." "Would the little pig let him?" "Yes, when he was absorbed eating his dinner." ("Children, what is the meaning ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... that was an ugly twist of the hand!" he cried shrilly. "Next time, turn your sledge by the rib instead of the nose, when your dogs are still in the traces!" Under his breath he whispered, as he made pretense of looking at Jan's hand: "Le diable, do you want to tell HIM?" Jan tried ...
— The Honor of the Big Snows • James Oliver Curwood

... held the whistling blade was seized in the steel-like fingers of Deerfoot's left hand. The grip was fearful, for the Shawanoe had now called upon his last reserve of strength, and the wrist was as if encased in a coil of iron. Then, with a peculiar twist of his hand, known only to himself, and resembling that remarkable system known under the name of jiu jitsu among the Japanese, who are the only ones that understand it in all its frightful perfection, ...
— Deerfoot in The Mountains • Edward S. Ellis

... quickens. The best man shifts his place from the stern to the bow, and stands ready with his long-handled paddle to twist the frail boat out of reach of hidden rocks. The men's faces glow with excitement. Quicker and quicker flows the stream, breaking into little rapids, foaming round rocks, and rising in tumbling waves over the shallows. At a word from the bowman ...
— The Ontario Readers: Fourth Book • Various

... well couth she twist and twine, And make the fine marche pine, {93c} And with the needle work; And she couth help the priest to say His matins on a holiday, And ...
— Playful Poems • Henry Morley

... Bunkem," shouted a sturdy auxiliary; and with considerable manual exertion and remarkable agility, he gave the unfortunate Adolphus a peculiar twist that at once deposited him behind the bar and before ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 1, October 9, 1841 • Various

... of these strangers' skill and strength in games and wrestling, but one by one they failed. At last there were only two left, Hercules, who could hold the sky on his great shoulders, and Acheloues, the river-god, who could twist and twine through the fields and make them fertile. Each thought himself the greater of the two, and it lay between them which should gain the princess, by his ...
— Tell Me Another Story - The Book of Story Programs • Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

... a twist, shot down a narrow courtway—and I was left to fight the fog, and mayhap this Bill Sykes and all the other wild phantoms of Dickens' ...
— Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Vol. 1 of 14 - Little Journeys to the Homes of Good Men and Great • Elbert Hubbard

... shop-fronts of the innumerable curio-shops; in the grotesque figures, the playthings, the idols, cruel, suspicious, mad; it is even found in the buildings: in the friezes of the religious porticoes, in the roofs of the thousand pagodas, of which the angles and cable-ends writhe and twist like the yet dangerous remains ...
— Madame Chrysantheme Complete • Pierre Loti

... chromatic whistle of the magpies from the gum trees in the paddocks. But the men who were gathered round Marmot's verandah noted nothing of these things. Marmot himself, with his shirt-sleeves rolled up, sat on a box of Barret twist tobacco in the doorway, where he had the benefit of any draught there might be, and the majority of the adult male members of the population were sitting or ...
— Colonial Born - A tale of the Queensland bush • G. Firth Scott

... escalading a wall at night, as was their wont upon illicit love-adventures, Giomo whispered to his master: 'Ah, my lord, do let me cut the rope, and rid ourselves of him!' To which the Duke replied: 'No, I do not want this; but if he could, I know he'd twist it round my neck.' ...
— Sketches and Studies in Italy and Greece • John Addington Symonds

... was speaking with such deliberation that he did not once twist his words or expressions about, as he often did when excited ...
— Frank Merriwell at Yale • Burt L. Standish

... better done on wood. It represents a dead Christ with Mary and Nicodemus, accompanied with other figures, who are weeping bitterly for the dead. Their gentleness and sweetness are remarkable as they twist their hands and beat themselves, showing in their faces the bitter sorrow that our sins should cost so dear. It is a marvellous thing, not that Tommaso could rise to this height of imagination, but that he could express his thought so well with his brush. Consequently this work deserves the ...
— The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8) • Giorgio Vasari

... or case I saw, full of accursed instruments of torture horribly contrived to cramp, and pinch, and grind and crush men's bones, and tear and twist them with the torment of a thousand deaths. Before it, were two iron helmets, with breast-pieces: made to close up tight and smooth upon the heads of living sufferers; and fastened on to each, was a small knob or anvil, where the directing devil could repose his ...
— Pictures from Italy • Charles Dickens

... and boil them in several Waters till they are very tender, then wash them well, and dry them in a Cloth, slit them, and take out the Pith, and braid them in Braids as you would a Womans Hair, or else twist them, then take twice their weight in fine Sugar, take half that Sugar, and to every Pound of Sugar, one quarter of a pint of Rosewater and as much fair water, make a syrup of it, and put in your roots and boil them, and ...
— The Queen-like Closet or Rich Cabinet • Hannah Wolley

... her hold? She will scarce mind the rudder even now. Bide till she has settled a bit lower; and she will either go down below your boots like a stone image, or drive ashore here, under our lee, and come all to pieces like a twist of string." ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 8 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... not very careful, we shall be apt to mistake the meaning of Scripture, and make it say what we like, and twist it to suit our own fancies, and our own ignorance. Therefore we must never, with texts like this, say positively, 'It must mean this. It can mean only this.' How ...
— Town and Country Sermons • Charles Kingsley

... heart at the sight of the whirlpools and eddies. I think that they are called the Green Stones because the seas break over them in bright green heaps. Here and there among them the tide seized us and swept us along, and in the races where this happened there were sucking whirlpools, strong enough to twist us round. How often we were near our deaths I cannot think, but time and time again the backwash of a breaker came over our rail in a green mass. When we sailed into Kermorvan I was only half conscious from the cold and wet. I just remember some ...
— Jim Davis • John Masefield

... the Eclipse again. It would have been hard to find a craft of more delicate, graceful lines. They often said he had a flair for ships and women. A shifting current, some freak of the wind and tide, was making her twist and pull at her anchor, and for a moment the sun struck clean on her broadside. A gaping hole between decks had connected two of her ports ...
— The Unspeakable Gentleman • John P. Marquand

... Jane Farran, she had excited. There was no doubt that she was a clever woman, and it was equally beyond doubt that she completely managed her husband. She was much his superior in education, and possessing far greater abilities could twist him round her little finger, although she did it so cleverly that he never suspected that he was the victim ...
— The Dash for Khartoum - A Tale of Nile Expedition • George Alfred Henty



Words linked to "Twist" :   dent, deform, entwine, eddy, construction, plait, manoeuvre, snarl, squirm, entangle, mat, whirl, twist wood, snake, stream, tress, be, flexure, pervert, sprain, logrolling, incurvate, hairdo, worm, crick, crimp, change form, maneuver, turn, trick, spin, curved shape, tangle, injury, indent, circumvolute, hurt, wind, wrestle, weave, coiffure, twist around, quirk, move, hairstyle, wring, twiddle, change shape, wriggle, wound, braid, rick, shape, device, rotary motion, convolute, gimmick, twine, trauma, wrick, kink, trip the light fantastic, distort, hair style, wave, winding, lace, intertwine, tactical manoeuvre, twist bit, motion, pigtail, writhe, injure, bend, untwist, turn of events, coif, mnemonic, flex, pirouette, wrench, pull, queue, harm, spiral, fold, curve



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com