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]