twist
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twist¹
- /twɪst/
- [tw̥ɪst]
Rhymes with -ɪst
Where it comes from
PIE word
*dwóh₁
From Middle English twist, from Old English *twist, in compounds (e.g. mæsttwist (“a rope; stay”), candeltwist (“a wick”)), from Proto-Germanic *twistaz, a derivative of *twi- (“two-”) (compare also twine, between, betwixt).
Related to Saterland Frisian Twist (“discord”), Dutch twist (“twist; strife; discord”), German Low German Twist (“strife; discord”), German Zwist (“turmoil; strife; discord”), Swedish tvist (“quarrel; dispute”), Icelandic tvistur (“deuce”).
The verb is from Middle English twisten. Compare Dutch twisten, Danish tviste (“to dispute”), Swedish tvista (“to argue; dispute”).
noun twists
- A twisting force.
- Anything twisted, or the act of twisting. Peter was always proud afterwards when he remembered that, with the Bargee's furious fingers tightening on his ear, the Bargee's crimson countenance close to his own, the Bargee's hot breath on his neck, he had the courage to speak the truth. "I wasn't catching fish," said Peter. "That's not your
- The form given in twisting. Habakkuk brought him a ſmooth, ſtrong, tough Rope, made of many a ply of vvholeſome Scandinavian Hemp, compactly tvviſted together, vvith a Nooſe that ſlip'd as glib as a Bird-catcher's Gin. Jack ſhrunk and grevv pale at firſt ſight of it, he handled it, meaſur'd it, ſtretch'd it, fix'd it againſt t
- The degree of stress or strain when twisted.
- A type of thread made from two filaments twisted together. the thrid / By griesly Lachesis was spun with paine, / That cruell Atropos eftsoones vndid, / With cursed knife cutting the twist in twaine […]
- A sliver of lemon peel added to a cocktail, etc. Bunny sat on the only remaining stool at the leather-padded oval bar in the Iron Lounge. It was happy hour, two drinks for the price of one. She decided on a martini with a twist, and while the bartender was preparing her drink, she scanned the faces looking at the bar.
- A sudden bend (or short series of bends) in a road, path, etc. But here a twist in the stream brought us out from the bushes
- A distortion to the meaning of a passage or word.
- An unexpected turn in a story, tale, etc. I'm all agog at the new twist to the royal scandal.
- A modern dance popular in Western culture in the late 1950s and 1960s, based on rotating the hips repeatedly from side to side. See Twist (dance) on Wikipedia for more details. Come on, baby, let's do the twist Take me by my little hand and go like this
- A rotation of the body when diving.
- A sprain, especially to the ankle.
- A twig. No twiſt, no twig, no bough nor branch […]
- A girl, a woman. James and Ruby danced over beside us. ‘Did you tell her?’ he asked, looking at me. I nodded. ‘Wait a minute,’ Gloria said, as they started to dance away. ‘What’s the big idea of talking behind my back?’ ‘Tell that twist to lay off me,’ James said, still speaking directly to me.
- A roll or baton of baked dough or pastry in a twisted shape.
- A small roll of tobacco. Uncle Charles smoked such black twist that at last his nephew suggested to him to enjoy his morning smoke in a little outhouse at the end of the garden.
- A material for gun barrels, consisting of iron and steel twisted and welded together. Damascus twist
- The spiral course of the rifling of a gun barrel or a cannon.
- A beverage made of brandy and gin.
- A strong individual tendency or bent; inclination. a twist toward fanaticism
- An appetite for food. Hope you’ve brought good appetites with you, gentlemen. You, Doolan, I know ave, for you’ve always ad a deuce of a twist.
- Ellipsis of hair twist The physician should evaluate for a history of tight ponytails, buns, chignons, braids, twists, weaves, cornrows, dreadlocks, sisterlocks, and hair wefts in addition to the usage of religious hair coverings.
verb twists · twisting · twisted
- To turn the ends of something, usually thread, rope etc., in opposite directions, often using force.
-
To join together by twining one part around another.
"Well, one day I went up in a balloon and the ropes got twisted, so that I couldn't come down again. It went way up above the clouds, so far that a current of air struck it and carried it many, many miles away. For a day and a night I traveled through the air, and on the morning of the second day I
Similar: braid, intertwist, lace, betwine, entwist, entwine, interlace, interthread, intertwine, interweave, lock, raddle
- To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve. June 8, 1714, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift twisting it into a serpentine form.
- To wreathe; to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts. longing to twist bays with that ivy
- To wind into; to insinuate. Avarice twists itself into all human concerns.
- To turn a knob etc.
-
To distort or change the truth or meaning of words when repeating.
Say I could succeed at the Bar, and achieve a fortune by bullying witnesses and twisting evidence; is that a fame which would satisfy my longings, or a calling in which my life would be well spent?
Similar: wrest
- To form a twist (in any of the above noun meanings).
- To injure (a body part) by bending it in the wrong direction. Then Romany went down, then we fell together, and the chaps separated us. I got another knock-down blow in, and was beginning to enjoy the novelty of it, when Romany staggered and limped. ‘I’ve done,’ he said. ‘I’ve twisted my ankle.’ He’d caught his heel against a tuft of grass.
- To wind; to follow a bendy or wavy course; to have many bends. I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big cle
- To cause to rotate. 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.
- To dance the twist (a type of dance characterised by twisting one's hips). Twist it in the alley With long tall Sally Twistin' with Lucy Doin' the watusi.
-
To coax.
"On the three-thousand-dollar reward John Bain is offerin' for the return of his sister," said Ace. "Now listen--I know a certain big Chinee had her kidnapped outa her 'rickshaw out at the edge of the city one evenin'. He's been keepin' her prisoner in his house, waitin' a chance to send her up-coun
Similar: cajole, inveigle, wheedle, blandander, blandish, butter up, sweeten, fast-talk, canoodle, carny, coax, collogue
- In the game of blackjack (pontoon or twenty-one), to be dealt another card.
Twist²
proper noun
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: bend, whirl, winding, wrick, writhe, wrench, pull, braid, turn, squirm, wriggle, sprain, plait, wrestle, convolute, tress
Translations
Every language
noun twisting force
| Español | torsión, torcedura, torcimiento, tuerce, torción |
|---|---|
| हिन्दी | मोड़ moṛ |
| Italiano | torsione, contorsione, distorsione |
noun anything twisted, or the act of twisting
| हिन्दी | मोड़ moṛ, मरोड़ maroṛ |
|---|---|
| Português | torcedura |
| Italiano | distorsione |
noun form
| हिन्दी | मोड़ moṛ |
|---|
noun sudden bend (or short series of bends) in a road, path, etc
| Deutsch | Biegung |
|---|---|
| Italiano | piega, giravolta |
noun distortion to the meaning of a word or passage
| Italiano | travisamento, forzatura |
|---|
noun unexpected turn in a story, tale, etc
| Español | giro inesperado |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | どんでん返し dondengaeshi |
| Deutsch | Wendung |
| Italiano | colpo di scena |
noun type of dance
| 한국어 | 트위스트 teuwiseuteu |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | ツイスト tsuisuto |
| Português | twist |
| Français | twist |
| Deutsch | Twist |
| Русский | твист tvist |
noun sprain, especially to the ankle
| Français | torsion |
|---|---|
| Italiano | contorsione |
verb to turn the ends in opposite directions
| Español | torcer, despescuezar, espescuezar |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 捻る nejiru, 捻る hineru |
| 中文 | 扭 niǔ, 搓 cuō, 捻 niǎn, 絞 /绞 jiǎo |
| हिन्दी | मोड़ना moṛnā, मरोड़ना maroṛnā |
| Português | torcer |
| Français | entortiller, tordre |
| Deutsch | verziehen, drehen, wickeln |
| Italiano | torcere, attorcigliare |
| Ελληνικά | στρίβω strívo |
| Română | răsuci, învârti, întortochea, stoarce |
| Русский | скрути́ть skrutítʹ, скру́чивать skrúčivatʹ, изогну́ть izognútʹ, изгиба́ть izgibátʹ, крути́ть krutítʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | vặn, xoắn |
| العربية | لَوَى lawā, بَرَمَ barama |
| עברית | סובב sovév, פיתל pitél |
verb to turn a knob etc
| Português | girar |
|---|---|
| Русский | верте́ть vertétʹ, поверну́ть povernútʹ |
verb to distort or change the truth or meaning
| Español | sacar punta a |
|---|---|
| Português | distorcer |
| Deutsch | verdrehen |
| Русский | искажа́ть iskažátʹ, искази́ть iskazítʹ |
Talk about this word "twist." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/twist. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. twist. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/twist "twist." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/twist.
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@misc{twist_2026,
title = {twist},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/twist},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
