Writhe v. t. [imp. Writhed p. p. Writhed, Obs. or Poetic Writhen p. pr. & vb. n. Writhing.]
1. To twist; to turn; now, usually, to twist or turn so as to distort; to wring. “With writhing [turning] of a pin.”
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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
writhing
adj : having a twisting or snake-like or worm-like motion;
"squirming boys"; "wiggly worms"; "writhing snakes"
[syn: squirming, twisting, wiggling, wiggly, wriggling,
wriggly]