Crossword clues for writhe
writhe
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Writhe \Writhe\, v. i. To twist or contort the body; to be distorted; as, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively.
After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and
writhed with shame and vexation.
--Macaulay.
Writhe \Writhe\, v. t. [imp. Writhed; p. p. Writhed, Obs. or Poetic Writhen; p. pr. & vb. n. Writhing.] [OE. writhen, AS. wr[=i]?an to twist; akin to OHG. r[=i]dan, Icel. r[=i]?a, Sw. vrida, Dan. vride. Cf. Wreathe, Wrest, Wroth.]
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To twist; to turn; now, usually, to twist or turn so as to distort; to wring. ``With writhing [turning] of a pin.''
--Chaucer.Then Satan first knew pain, And writhed him to and fro.
--Milton.Her mouth she writhed, her forehead taught to frown.
--Dryden.His battle-writhen arms, and mighty hands.
--Tennyson. -
To wrest; to distort; to pervert.
The reason which he yieldeth showeth the least part of his meaning to be that whereunto his words are writhed.
--Hooker. -
To extort; to wring; to wrest. [R.]
The nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign in writhing money from them by every species of oppression.
--Sir W. Scott.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Old English wriðan (transitive) "to twist or bend," earlier "to bind or fetter," from Proto-Germanic *writhanan (cognates: North Frisian wrial, Old High German ridan, Old Norse riða, Middle Swedish vriþa, Middle Danish vride), from PIE *wreit- "to turn, bend" (see wreath). Intransitive, of the body or limbs, "move in a twisting or tortuous manner," from c.1300. Related: Writhed; writhing.
Wiktionary
n. (context knot theory English) The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot vb. 1 (context transitive English) To twist, to wring (something). 2 (context transitive English) To contort (a part of the body). 3 (context intransitive English) To twist or contort the body; to be distorted.
WordNet
Wikipedia
In knot theory, there are several competing notions of the quantity writhe, or Wr. In one sense, it is purely a property of an oriented link diagram and assumes integer values. In another sense, it is a quantity that describes the amount of "coiling" of a mathematical knot (or any closed, simple curve) in three-dimensional space and assumes real numbers as values. In both cases, writhe is a geometric quantity, meaning that while deforming a curve (or diagram) in such a way that does not change its topology, one may still change its writhe.
Usage examples of "writhe".
Is there not something horrible in the look and sound of the word afanc, something connected with the opening and shutting of immense jaws, and the swallowing of writhing prey?
Now Alan was leaning over the sink, staring down into darkness, holding on to the darkness, which writhed and scratched beneath him.
They heaved in a great, tangled mass, thrusting, licking, panting, writhing, biting, while a crowd gathered on the sidewalk beneath the building, gesturing upward toward the ludicrous alfresco scene.
They writhed and twisted and foamed, broke open in sores as the bacteria destroyed the binding structure of the amorphous tissue.
With each mortal wound, an amphibian pitched writhing into space and tumbled flailing against those behind.
The woman seemed unaware of the effect her kindness to the Hermunduri had had upon the villagers, but Anomia knew and writhed inwardly with jealousy.
Saturday, 21st, he was taken with another attack, writhing in great agony, with all the distressing symptoms of arsenical poisoning.
Above my head, that unpleasant, snake-necked bird came gliding back towards the ruins, and I saw that its beack was hooked around a fish that writhed and struggled helplessly.
As promised, the whining grew stronger, until ho Bem and the other Pandronian soldiers were once agam writhing in pain.
More than many of the girls had I squirmed in the alcoves, sometimes chained, writhing under the touch of masters, whimpering and crying out the submission I could not help but yield.
Completely successful, it could have turned most of the London or New York of that time, after some clamour and running and writhing and choking, into a cityful of distorted corpses.
He was a scoundrel and a slanderer, and writhed under the thought that he could not go to Naples and torment his relations, who were in reality respectable people, but monsters according to his shewing.
Fuzzy kept watch over the writhing croc trapped in the wall-hole, they danced safely by.
Writhing on the floor, his body and brain useless appendages to a cruciform of horrific pain radiating through his body, Isozaki tried to scream through his locked jaws.
He quickly cuffed her and then turned to David Dale, who was struggling to his knees amid the crushed roses, writhing and howling in agony.