twist

TWIST/twɪst/

Noun pluraltwists

36 meanings of twist

1
verbtransitive
To turn the ends of something, such as thread or rope, in opposite directions, often with force.
Spinners twist raw wool between their fingers to draw it into yarn.
She twisted the soaked cloth until the dirty water dripped out.
Similartorque
Oppositeuntwist
2
verbtransitive
To injure a body part, such as an ankle or wrist, by bending it in the wrong direction.
Dancers can twist a knee badly if they land off balance.
She twisted her back lifting the heavy box of books.
Similarsprain, wrench, strain, turn
Note
The ankle is the classic casualty. "I've twisted my ankle," says Henry Lawson's fighter as he limps out of the bout, and knees, wrists and backs follow the same pattern. The injury that results is the noun for a sprain. Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion turns the hurt emotional: you can "twist the heart in a girl as easy as some could twist her arms."
3
nouncountable
An unexpected turn of events in a story, film, or other narrative.
Critics praised the novel's final twist as genuinely unforeseeable.
The series ends every episode with a twist designed to pull viewers into the next one.
Similarsurprise, turn, reversal, revelation, development
Note
Plot twists are not confined to fiction. A scandal can take a new twist, and a reviewer can find the twist in a familiar formula. Watch the prepositions: a twist to events, a twist in a story or formula, a familiar thing done with a twist. In Graham Linehan's The IT Crowd, merely knowing a film has a twist spoils it, because a twist only works unannounced.
4
nouncountable
Anything coiled or wound around itself, or the act of coiling or winding something.
The bread came out of the oven in a golden twist.
With a quick twist of her wrist, she freed the tangled fishing line.
Similarcoil, spiral, curl, twirl, turn
5
nouncountable
A sudden bend, or a short series of bends, in a road, path, or similar route.
Drivers unfamiliar with the mountain highway often misjudge its final twist.
The path follows a series of twists through the old quarter of the city.
Similarbend, turn, curve, kink, zigzag
Note
Streams take twists as readily as roads do: Edith Nesbit's children come out of the bushes at "a twist in the stream." The word suggests something sharper and less predictable than a curve, and it pairs naturally with turn, as in a path that twisted and turned or a route full of twists and turns.
6
verbtransitive
To turn something such as a knob, dial, or cap, typically with the hand.
Twist the dial until the oven reaches the right temperature.
He twisted the doorknob slowly so no one inside would hear.
Similarturn, rotate, screw
7
verbtransitive
To cause something to rotate.
Twist the rod between your palms to start it spinning.
The pitcher twists the ball at release to give it extra spin.
Similarspin, rotate, turn, twirl, roll
8
nouncountable
A force that tends to turn or rotate an object.
The mechanic applied a sharp twist to loosen the rusted bolt.
Strong gusts put a dangerous twist on the bridge cables.
Similarturn, wrench, torque, rotation
9
verbintransitive
To wind or follow a curving, bending course; to have many bends.
Narrow streets twist through the medieval quarter of the city.
The trail twisted upward for another mile before reaching the ridge.
Similarwind, snake, meander, zigzag, curve
Note
Routes are the usual subject, and the verb takes no object: a path twisted and turned, a trail twists upward. H. P. Lovecraft's labyrinths of ancient streets "twist endlessly" from forgotten courts to waterfronts, and the word carries that sense of a maze. Used of a road or river, it describes the whole course rather than a single bend.
10
verbtransitive
To repeat or report someone's words in a way that misrepresents their meaning or truth.
Politicians often twist an opponent's statement until it sounds like a confession.
The senator accused the press of twisting his remarks about the budget.
Similardistort, misrepresent, misquote, warp, garble
Note
The verb that goes with evidence and words. Lawyers twist evidence in Thackeray's Pendennis, and the everyday complaint is that someone has twisted my words. The idea is bending, not inventing: the original statement is still there, made to say something it did not. The result is a distortion of meaning.

11
nouncountable
A thin sliver of lemon peel added to a cocktail or similar drink.
The bartender garnished the martini with a twist.
Each glass arrived with a twist of peel curled over the rim.
Note
Bar shorthand needs no fruit named. A martini with a twist means lemon peel, and that phrasing is how the drink is ordered. The strip is cut so its aromatic oils can be squeezed over the surface before it goes into the glass or onto the rim. After a drink's name, with a twist is complete on its own, and adding "of lemon" is optional.
12
nouncountable
A distortion of the meaning of a word or passage.
The translation introduces a subtle twist that changes the poem's tone entirely.
The lawyers argued that the contract's wording allowed no twist of its plain meaning.
Similardistortion, slant, spin, misrepresentation, perversion
13
nouncountable
A sprain, especially one affecting the ankle.
The hiker limped back to camp with a painful twist in her ankle.
An old twist from his rugby days still aches in cold weather.
Similarsprain, wrench, strain
14
verbintransitive
To contort or writhe; to crook or coil spirally; to complicate.
The injured snake twisted violently across the hot sand.
Steel girders can twist out of shape in the heat of a fire.
Similarwrithe, contort, squirm, buckle, warp
15
nouncountable or uncountable
A strong individual tendency or inclination of character or mind.
A melancholy twist in his nature kept him from enjoying his own success.
Even as a child she showed a practical twist, taking apart every toy to see how it worked.
Similarstreak, bent, tendency, inclination, quirk
16
verbtransitive
To join two or more strands or parts by twining them around one another.
Electricians twist the copper wires together before capping the connection.
The ropemaker twisted three strands into a single sturdy line.
Similartwine, intertwine, braid, plait, wind
Oppositeuntwist, unravel
17
nouncountable
A rotation of the body performed while in the air during a dive.
Her final dive included a full twist in the pike position.
He lost points because his twists were not completed before entry.
Similarrotation, spin, turn
18
nounusually singular
A dance popular in Western culture in the late 1950s and 1960s, based on repeatedly rotating the hips from side to side.
Chubby Checker's hit sent teenagers everywhere rushing to learn the twist.
Couples filled the floor doing the twist at the sock hop.
Note
A dance name that nearly always takes the article: people do the twist, as Hank Ballard and the Midnighters sang in "The Twist" (1958). Songs of 1962 list it beside the stomp and the mashed potato, and "Monster Mash" mourns a forgotten twist named for Transylvania. When the dancing itself is the action, English simply uses the verb form.
19
verbintransitive
To dance the twist, rotating the hips repeatedly from side to side.
The whole crowd twisted to the live band until midnight.
People would twist for hours when the craze first hit town.
Note
Songwriters turned the dance's name into a verb and played with it. Chris Kenner's "Land of a Thousand Dances" (1962) names a partner to twist with, and in another line adds it as an empty object, as in shake it, with an alley as the setting. Otherwise the verb stands alone: the crowd twisted until midnight.
20
nouncountable or uncountable
The form or shape given to something by winding or coiling it around itself.
The barley sugar kept its twist even after it cooled.
Each iron baluster was forged with an elegant twist along its length.
Similarspiral, coil, curl, helix
21
noununcountable
The degree of stress or strain in something that has been wound or turned against itself.
Engineers checked the twist in the driveshaft under full load.
Too much twist in the climbing rope will eventually weaken its strands.
Similartorsion, strain, tension, torque
22
noununcountable
A type of thread made from two filaments wound around each other.
Tailors prefer a strong silk twist for sewing on coat buttons.
He threaded the heavy twist through the leather with a curved needle.
Note
Here the oldest meaning of the word shows through. Twist goes back to a Germanic derivative of twi-, "two", the element behind twine, between and betwixt, so a thread of two filaments wound together is the word at its most literal. Old English already used it in compounds for a ship's rope and a candle wick. Spenser's Faerie Queene has a Fate cutting "the twist in twaine", and William Hickey describes waistcoats trimmed with silver twist.
23
nouncountable
A roll or stick of baked dough or pastry formed into a spiral shape.
She glazed the apricot twist with warm honey before serving it.
The bakery's pretzel twists sell out by mid-morning on weekends.
24
verbtransitive
To wind around or encircle something, or to unite parts by interweaving them.
Ivy twisted itself around the iron railings of the balcony.
Florists twist sprigs of evergreen into wreaths every December.
Similarwind, twine, coil, wrap, weave
25
verbtransitive
To shape or wind something into a coil, spiral, or similar wound form.
He twisted the wrapper ends to seal the candy.
Bakers twist the dough into ropes before the final rise.
Similarcoil, wind, curl, roll, twirl
26
nouncountableabbreviationellipsis
Ellipsis of hair twist.
Her low twist stayed in place through the entire evening.
The stylist finished the twist with a few hidden pins.
Note
A short form that takes over once the talk is clearly about hair. The full term is hair twist, a section of twisted strands in an Afro-textured style somewhat like a short dreadlock. Shortened, it behaves as an ordinary count noun with the plural twists, and it sits naturally in lists beside braids, cornrows, dreadlocks and weaves.
27
nounslangcountable
A girl or a woman.
The detective asked around about a twist who had been seen with the suspect.
He bragged that the twist behind the bar had a soft spot for him.
Similardame, broad, doll, chick, gal
Note
Hard-boiled slang. Horace McCoy's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1935) has it, and the gangsters of Miller's Crossing (1990) still say it. Men use it about a woman rather than to her, usually with that or the in front: tell that twist to lay off me. Today it sounds deliberately period, a line borrowed from that tough-talking world, and it is dismissive when meant seriously.
28
nouncountable or uncountable
The spiral course of the rifling inside the barrel of a gun or cannon.
Nineteenth-century gunsmiths cut the twist into each barrel with painstaking care.
A faster twist helps stabilize longer, heavier bullets in flight.
Similarrifling
29
verbintransitive
In the card game blackjack, also called pontoon or twenty-one, to be dealt an additional card.
She decided to twist on fifteen, hoping for a six.
He twisted twice and busted with twenty-four.
Similarhit
Oppositestick, stand
Note
Card players use twist as the opposite of stick: twist to take another card, stick to stay with what you hold. In pontoon the call is the word itself, so a player on fifteen twists hoping for a six. Pontoon also has buy, in which the extra card comes face down for a higher stake.
30
nouncountable
A small roll of tobacco leaves wound together into a compact rope or coil.
He shaved a few flakes from the twist into his pipe.
The trading post sold twists of dark tobacco alongside flour and salt.
Similarroll
Note
Tobacco in this form could be chewed as well as smoked. Railway furnacemen at Crewe sit "chewing twist," and Samuel Beckett's Watt (1953) has two men who were "great chewers of tobacco twist." As a substance it is uncountable, as in chewing twist or a gift of twist. A single roll is a twist, and the plural is twists.
31
nounobsolete
A small thin shoot or branch of a tree or bush.
32
noun
Gun-barrel material made by twisting strips of iron and steel around each other and welding them into one.
33
nounobsolete
A drink of brandy mixed with gin.
34
nounarchaic
Hunger, or an eagerness to eat.
Hope you’ve brought good appetites with you, gentlemen. You, Doolan, I know ave, for you’ve always ad a deuce of a twist.
1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, The History of Pendennis
35
verb
To work oneself or something gradually into a place or position, often by subtle means.
36
verb
To persuade someone gently, by flattery or pleading.

Practice

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Origin

It comes from Middle English twist, from Old English *twist (seen in compounds like mæsttwist "a rope" and candeltwist "a wick"), from Proto-Germanic *twistaz, a derivative of *twi- ("two-"), which also gives twine, between, and betwixt. Related forms include Dutch twist ("strife, discord"), German Zwist ("turmoil, strife"), and Swedish tvist ("quarrel"); the verb is from Middle English twisten.