| 释义 |
contortion|kənˈtɔːʃən|
Also 7–8 -torsion.
[ad. L. contortiōn-em, n. of action f. contorquēre: see contort v. Cf. F. contorsion (Paré, 16th c.).]
1. a. The action of twisting or writhing; the fact of being twisted; distortion by twisting.
1611Cotgr., Contorsion, A contorsion; a wrything, etc. 1615Crooke Body of Man 68 It giueth a forme..answereable to it owne contortions. 1658Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 50 Wherein the Leaf and Roots may shoot right without contortion or forced circumvolution. 1773Mrs Chapone Improv. Mind (1774) I. 109 We strive..to alter ourselves by ridiculous contorsions of body. 1841–4Emerson Ess., Prudence Wks. (Bohn) I. 96 The contortions of ten crucified martyrs. 1878Huxley Physiogr. 215 Contortion and dislocation of strata..due to squeezing at the sides.
fig.1874Mahaffy Soc. Life Greece v. 157 The most violent contortions of grammar.
b. In technical use.
1869M. T. Masters Veg. Terat. 316 Contortion.—An irregular twisting or bending of the stem or branches is by no means of uncommon occurrence, the inducing causes being often some restriction to growth in certain directions, or the undue or disproportionate growth in one direction, as contrasted with that in another. 1882Geikie Text-bk. Geol. 480 Among the sands and clays of the glacial deposits local examples of contortion occur.
2. The product of contorting; a contorted condition, state, or form.
1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 8 The Probe which you see lyes in her mouth in spiral contorsions, wound up like a spring. 1818M. W. Shelley Frankenst. xvi. (1865) 199 His face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold. 1873Black Pr. Thule vii. 105 The curious contortions of the rocks.
fig.1869J. Martineau Ess. II. 45 The deductions..are only so many contortions of the original definitions.
Hence conˈtortional a. = contortive a.; conˈtortionate a., twisting, tortuous; conˈtortioned a., twisted.
1911C. E. W. Bean ‘Dreadnought’ of Darling xii. 103 Its more particularly contortionate bends [of the Darling River]. 1918W. J. Locke Rough Road vi. 64 Such and such back-breaking and contortional performances in his bathroom. 1922Glasgow Herald 25 Sept. 13 A pitiable, dazed, contortioned figure. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song ii. v. 145 They had so much soul, and that so contortionate, that she could not even keep her attention on them long enough to discover why they were not alive. |