twistedadj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > specific numbers > two > division into two > [adjective] > bifurcated
twiselc1000
forked1398
twisted1398
grained1513
bi-furked?1545
biforked1578
two-forked1579
crotched1587
forken1631
twi-forked1635
bifurcous1656
forky1702
swallow-tailed1726
bidential1730
bifurcate1835
bifurcated1853
bifurcal1861
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum v. xxi. (Bodl.) lf. 12/1 The tunges of addres bene blacke..swifte in meuyng..þat meueþ þe tunge so swiftelich so þat on tunge semeþ iforked and twisted [L. Qui tam velociter linguas agitat vt vna numero bifurcari videatur lingua].
2. † b. figurative. Intimately associated or connected; united; combined; also, consisting of two elements united. Obsolete.
a. Consisting of two or more threads, strands, or the like twined together; (of a thread or strand) formed into a cord by being intertwined with another or others; made of spun or doubled thread, or by spinning; also transferred wreathed, plaited, interwoven.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > intertwining or interweaving > [adjective] > intertwined or interwoven
writhenOE
twinedc1300
locked1488
wreathena1500
plait1529
implicatec1540
context?1541
twisted1548
weaved1552
wreathed?1552
texed1572
well-woven1578
woven1590
interlaced1593
entrailed1599
entest1608
implicit1608
folden1612
inextricate?1615
intertissueda1616
complicatea1626
enwreathed1631
interwoven1642
inwoven1667
intertwineda1680
plectilea1682
well-wove1690
implicated1761
osiered1820
inwrought1824
complected1828
impleached1829
internetted1849
enlaced1851
threaded1853
interknit1885
interwrought1895
pleached1896
interweaved1898
1548 Hall's Vnion: Henry VI f. cxxxv An indissoluble knot, like the twisted tree, whiche cannot seuer.
1574 J. Baret Aluearie T 401 Twine or twisted threed, filum retortum.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene ii. xi. sig. Z2 In a canuas thin he was bedight, And girded with a belt of twisted brake.
a1603 Council Order in Antiq. Rep. (1807) I. 23 Twisted with two rows of twisted lace russet..the clothe itself set with the said twisted lace.
1609 Bible (Douay) I. Exod. xxxvi. 8 Ten curtines of twisted silke, and hyacinth, and purple, and scarlet twise died.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. Sept. (1965) I. 434 We begun to ascend Mount Cenis, being carri'd in little seats of twisted Osiers.
1723 R. Blackmore Alfred iii. 92 Cables in Rings..Their twisted Lengths voluminous enfold.
1757 T. Gray Ode II i. i, in Odes 13 Helm, nor Hauberk's twisted mail.
1791 W. Cowper tr. Homer Iliad in Iliad & Odyssey I. v. 135 Blood spouted through his twisted mail.
1794 R. Southey Poems Slave Trade iv. 7 No tear escaped him, not one suffering groan Beneath the twisted thong.
1825 W. Scott Talisman iii, in Tales Crusaders III. 83 Mattresses, wrought of twisted flags, lay by the side of the cell.
1835 T. Mitchell in tr. Aristophanes Acharnians 400 (note) A round twisted basket, in which any thing was carried.
1895 W. C. Scully Kafir Stories 24 A musical instrument..consisted of a stick about three feet long, bent into a bow by a string made of twisted sinews.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being mixed or blended > [adjective] > intricately
twisted1574
inwrought1824
1574 J. Baret Aluearie T 403 Twisted togither, harde to be loosed: intricate, doubtfull.
1642 J. Gauden 3 Serm. 29 Hypocrisie is a double and twisted impiety.
1655 W. Hammond Poems 32 Our twisted lives must be cut both Together.
1665 J. Glanvill Scepsis Scientifica Addr. Royal Soc. sig. A4 Their..deep Sagacity, twisted Endeavours, ample Fortunes, and all other advantages.
c. Of the stem of a wine glass: having a spiral ornament inside. Cf. twist n.1 16a(b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > containers for drink > drinking vessel > [adjective] > style of glass > style of stem
knopped1869
baluster-shaped1878
twisted1897
colour twist1915
twisty1929
Silesian-stemmed1961
1897 A. Hartshorne Old Eng. Glasses 61 The glasses which we know generically as those with ‘twisted stems’, that is, with thin air-threads, and opaque white spiral lines in their standards.
1897 A. Hartshorne Old Eng. Glasses 58 Air-twisted stems of various kinds.
1929 W. A. Thorpe Hist. Eng. & Irish Glass I. 199 Between 1714 and 1745..twisted stems are rare.
1970 G. Gros-Galliner Glass iv. 108 A twisted stem decoration could be achieved by rib-moulding and rib-twisting.
3.
a. Wrung out of shape; distorted; contorted; turned or bent awry; spec. in Botany = contorted adj. 2; crooked, tortuous, winding; turned or wrung spirally, of coiled or screw-like form, spiral or helical; in Geometry applied to curves in space, as twisted Cartesian, twisted cubic, etc. (see curvature n. 3a); also, involved, tangled, confused.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [adjective] > twisted spirally
woundenOE
thwarlc1400
wreathenc1400
writhenc1475
thrown1534
crinkled1558
contort1570
torqued1577
writhed1578
rivelled1594
wrested1609
twound1610
twirled1611
contorted1622
tortile1658
torcular1661
roped1681
wended?1690
twisted1725
entwisteda1800
torquated1851
barley sugar1868
spirated1871
wrangled1876
rangled1924
the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adjective] > of or relating to distortion > distorted
wrongwende?c1225
writhenc1475
thrawnc1494
tort1513
encrampised1523
wry1552
thraw?1553
contort1570
wried1576
writhed1578
turned1585
distort1588
tortured1603
wrested1609
contorted1622
distorted1635
twisted1830
wreathed1844
gnarled1851
squinched1899
contortioned1922
pretzelled1938
1725 W. Halfpenny Art of Sound Building 13 The two different Edges of a Twisted Schofeet.
1776 W. Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 319 Parnassia... Stem somewhat twisted.
1782 Monro's Anat. Human Bones (new ed.) 167 The eight upper ribs were formerly classed into pairs,..to wit, the crooked, the solid, the pectoral, the twisted.
1828 J. Stark Elements Nat. Hist. II. 135 Siliquaria, Lam.—Serpula, Lin. Shell tubular, irregularly twisted.
1830 T. Carlyle Richter Again in Misc. Ess. (1840) II. 297 Abounding..in the most twisted phraseology.
1831 W. Scott Castle Dangerous x, in Tales of my Landlord 4th Ser. IV. 235 A clear fountain of living water bubbled forth from under the twisted roots of one of those trees.
1842 J. Bischoff Comprehensive Hist. Woollen Manuf. II. 355 They [horns] protrude nearly at right angles from the head, and then become twisted in a singular way.
1854 R. I. Murchison Siluria v. 93 Highly twisted micaceous schists.
a1861 T. Woolner Her Garden in My Beautiful Lady iv The mad gale had..fiercely blown The stalks [of the lilies] in twisted heaps.
1876 J. D. Hooker Bot. Primer 68 Twisted, when each overlaps by one margin the contiguous margin of that next to it.
1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Romance 240 Worrogonga handed to her a small twisted note.
b. Of a person: neurotic, emotionally unbalanced; perverted. Also transferred and with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > [adjective] > insanity or madness > affected with
woodc725
woodsekc890
giddyc1000
out of (by, from, of) wit or one's witc1000
witlessc1000
brainsickOE
amadc1225
lunaticc1290
madc1330
sickc1340
brain-wooda1375
out of one's minda1387
frenetica1398
fonda1400
formada1400
unwisea1400
brainc1400
unwholec1400
alienate?a1425
brainless1434
distract of one's wits1470
madfula1475
furious1475
distract1481
fro oneself1483
beside oneself1490
beside one's patience1490
dementa1500
red-wood?1507
extraught1509
misminded1509
peevish1523
bedlam-ripe1525
straughta1529
fanatic1533
bedlama1535
daft1540
unsounda1547
stark raving (also staring) mad1548
distraughted1572
insane1575
acrazeda1577
past oneself1576
frenzy1577
poll-mad1577
out of one's senses1580
maddeda1586
frenetical1588
distempered1593
distraught1597
crazed1599
diswitted1599
idle-headed1599
lymphatical1603
extract1608
madling1608
distracteda1616
informala1616
far gone1616
crazy1617
March mada1625
non compos mentis1628
brain-crazed1632
demented1632
crack-brained1634
arreptitiousa1641
dementate1640
dementated1650
brain-crackeda1652
insaniated1652
exsensed1654
bedlam-witteda1657
lymphatic1656
mad-like1679
dementative1685
non compos1699
beside one's gravity1716
hyte1720
lymphated1727
out of one's head1733
maddened1735
swivel-eyed1758
wrong1765
brainsickly1770
fatuous1773
derangedc1790
alienated1793
shake-brained1793
crack-headed1796
flighty1802
wowf1802
doitrified1808
phrenesiac1814
bedlamite1815
mad-braineda1822
fey1823
bedlamitish1824
skire1825
beside one's wits1827
as mad as a hatter1829
crazied1842
off one's head1842
bemadded1850
loco1852
off one's nut1858
off his chump1864
unsane1867
meshuga1868
non-sane1868
loony1872
bee-headed1879
off one's onion1881
off one's base1882
(to go) off one's dot1883
locoed1885
screwy1887
off one's rocker1890
balmy or barmy on (or in) the crumpet1891
meshuggener1892
nutty1892
buggy1893
bughouse1894
off one's pannikin1894
ratty1895
off one's trolley1896
batchy1898
twisted1900
batsc1901
batty1903
dippy1903
bugs1904
dingy1904
up the (also a) pole1904
nut1906
nuts1908
nutty as a fruitcake1911
bugged1920
potty1920
cuckoo1923
nutsy1923
puggled1923
blah1924
détraqué1925
doolally1925
off one's rocket1925
puggle1925
mental1927
phooey1927
crackers1928
squirrelly1928
over the edge1929
round the bend1929
lakes1934
ding-a-ling1935
wacky1935
screwball1936
dingbats1937
Asiatic1938
parlatic1941
troppo1941
up the creek1941
screwed-up1943
bonkers1945
psychological1952
out to lunch1955
starkers1956
off (one's) squiff1960
round the twist1960
yampy1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
out of one's skull1967
whacked out1969
batshit1971
woo-woo1971
nutso1973
out of (one's) gourd1977
wacko1977
off one's meds1986
1900 Dial. Notes 2 68 [College words.] Twisted, pp. as adj. 1. Wrong. 2. Crazy. 3. Confused.
1956 R. M. Lester Towards Hereafter xiv. 165 Those who had held to the twisted idea that all psychical phenomena and spirit communication was ‘the work of the devil’ began to think again.
1963 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Jan. 64/3 Alan..who is as extroverted as Paul is twisted up.
1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex iii. 34 The emotional strains..produce the twisted embittered woman, only too familiar to psychiatrists.
1971 A. Morice Death of Gay Dog v. 72 Old Roger..does so enjoy having lots of money; not like that twisted-up Nancy.
1978 S. Sheldon Bloodline xlii. 360 Snuff films..would have been made to be shown privately to wealthy individuals who got their pleasure in twisted, sadistic ways.
Compounds
C1. † twisted tree n. Obsolete ? a branch of willow or other tree formerly used in connection with Easter celebrations.
twisted bit n. a bit of which the mouthpiece consists of a square bar spirally twisted; also in Carpentry: see quot.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > piercing or boring tools > [noun] > drill > types of bit
rose bit1842
pod-bit1875
twist-drill1875
twisted bit1875
chamfering-bita1877
twisted drill1884
twist-bit1901
Forstner bit1902
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Twisted bit.., a wood-boring tool adapted to be used in a brace. It is a..flat bar twisted into a spiral form and provided..with a cutter and a routing-table.
twisted drill n. = twist-drill n. at twist n.1 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > piercing or boring tools > [noun] > drill > types of bit
rose bit1842
pod-bit1875
twist-drill1875
twisted bit1875
chamfering-bita1877
twisted drill1884
twist-bit1901
Forstner bit1902
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 94 For long holes of small diameter a twisted drill is desirable.
twisted flower n. rendering of Strophanthus, name of a genus of tropical shrubs, natives of Asia and Africa, esp. applied to those species cultivated for the singularity of their flowers ( Cent. Dict. 1891).
twisted horn n. = twisty n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > [noun] > screw-tree or fruit of
twisted horn1866
twisty1866
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 576/1 H[elicteres] Isora is a native of Southern India, where its singular twisted screw-like fruit, about two inches in length, is called ‘twisted stick’, ‘twisted horn’, or ‘twisty’, and..is supposed to be a sovereign remedy against colic or twistings of the bowels.
twisted mouth n. see quot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > horse-gear > [noun] > bit
kevela1300
barnaclea1382
bitc1385
molanc1400
bridle bit1438
snafflea1533
titup1537
bastonet?1561
cannon?1561
scatch1565
cannon bit1574
snaffle-bit1576
port mouth1589
watering snaffle1593
bell-bit1607
campanel1607
olive1607
pear-bit1607
olive-bit1611
port bit1662
neck-snaffle1686
curb-bit1688
masticador1717
Pelham1742
bridoon1744
slabbering-bit1753
hard and sharp1787
Weymouth1792
bridoon-bit1795
mameluke bit1826
Chiffney-bit1834
training bit1840
ring snaffle1850
gag-snaffle1856
segundo1860
half-moon bit1875
stiff-bit1875
twisted mouth1875
thorn-bit1886
Scamperdale1934
bit-mouth-
1875 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Twisted mouth (Manège), a bit whose mouthpiece has been twisted, to make it more severe than it otherwise would be.
twisted pair n. Telephony a pair of insulated conductors twisted about each other, as in a flex or by alternating their positions on successive telegraph poles.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > telegraphy or telephony > [noun] > line
wire1813
line1847
wire line1848
loop1863
landline1865
saddle wire1876
telephone line1877
concentric cable1888
Pupin cable1904
multiple twin1922
quad1922
twisted pair1923
star quad1927
music line1929
coaxial cable1934
coax1945
1923 T. E. Herbert Telephony xxiii. 651 The disturbing effect of a twisted pair in good condition is relatively minute when compared with a single wire.
1979 Sci. Amer. Aug. 9/2 (advt.) Each link can be up to five miles long, and uses a single, shielded, twisted pair cable.
twisted pillar n. a pillar having the appearance of being spirally twisted, or apparently consisting of two shafts intertwined.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > pillar > [noun] > others
respoun1428
respond1448
twisted pillar1717
drum1805
responder1822
bundle pillar1842
Osiride pillar1850
trumeau1890
1717 G. Berkeley Jrnls. Trav. Italy 27 May in Wks. (1955) VII. 283 The altars generally adorned with twisted pillars.
1757 tr. J. G. Keyssler Trav. III. 317 The great altar has sixteen twisted pillars of white and green marble.
1869 H. F. Tozer Res. Highlands of Turkey I. 238 Balustrades and windows with twisted pillars.
twisted pine n. Pinus contorta, a small pine of the Pacific coast of North America, the twisted-branched pine; also P. Teocote of Mexico.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > conifers > [noun] > pines and allies
pine treeeOE
pineOE
pine-nut treec1330
pineapplec1390
pineapple treea1398
mountain pine1597
pine1597
mountain pine1601
frankincense1611
rosin flower?1611
black pine1683
Scotch pine1706
yellow pine1709
Jersey pine1743
loblolly pine1760
mugoa1768
Scots pine1774
Scotch fir1777
arrow plant1779
scrub pine1791
Georgia pine1796
old field pine1797
tamarack1805
grey pine1810
pond pine1810
New Jersey pine1818
loblolly1819
Corsican pine1824
celery-top pine1827
toatoa1831
heavy-wooded pine1836
nut pine1845
celery pine1851
celery-topped pine1851
sugar-pine1853
western white pine1857
Jeffrey1858
Korean pine1858
lodge-pole pine1859
jack pine1863
whitebark pine1864
twisted pine1866
Monterey pine1868
tanekaha1875
chir1882
slash-pine1882
celery-leaved pine1883
knee-pine1884
knobcone pine1884
matsu1884
meadow pine1884
Alaska pine1890
limber pine1901
bristlecone pine1908
o-matsu1916
insignis1920
radiata1953
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. at Pine Twisted pine, Pinus Teocote.
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Pine-tree, Twisted Mexican, Pinus Teocote.
twisted stalk n. rendering of Streptopus, name of a genus of perennial herbaceous plants bearing bell-shaped flowers with curious bent stalks.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Liliaceae family or plants > [noun] > other plants
one-blade1578
one-leaf1578
spiderwort1597
star of Bethlehem1629
ague-grass1687
unifoil1688
redroot1709
bellwort1785
eucomisc1804
uvularia1836
paintroot1853
twisted stalk1856
Barbados onion1866
fly-poison1866
shepherd's joy1884
onion weed1909
mondo1956
1856 A. Gray Man. Bot. Northern U.S. (1860) 474 Streptopus, Twisted-stalk.
twisted stick n. = twisted horn n.
ΚΠ
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 576/1 H[elicteres] Isora is a native of Southern India, where its singular twisted screw-like fruit, about two inches in length, is called ‘twisted stick’, ‘twisted horn’, or ‘twisty’, and..is supposed to be a sovereign remedy against colic or twistings of the bowels.
twisted suture n. see quot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > treatments uniting or replacing parts > [noun] > uniting fractures, wounds, etc. > uniting wound > by stitching > types of suture
glover's stitch1672
glover's suture1767
twisted suture1767
mattress suture1900
1767 B. Gooch Pract. Treat. Wounds I. 154 The twisted-suture..is performed by introducing one, two or more, needles or pins through the whole substance of the lips of the wound, twisting a waxed thread neatly about them, in the form of a figure of 8.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > consumables > willow branch > [noun]
twisted tree1598
the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > willow and allies > [noun] > stump, bark, or shoot of
osierc1175
withe1465
twisted tree1598
sallow withe1657
1598 J. Stow Suruay of London 72 In the weeke before Easter had yee great shewes made for the fetching in of a twisted Tree, or With, as they termed it, out of the woodes into the kinges house, and the like into euery mans house of honor or worship.
C2. Combinations, as twisted-branched, twisted-convolute, twisted-locked.
ΚΠ
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 131 Æstivation for the most part twisted-convolute.
1862 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. 4 218 Those frizzly-haired, lank-haired, twisted-locked, top-knotted foreigners.
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants Pinus contorta, twisted-branched pine.
Derivatives
ˈtwistedly adv. in a twisted manner.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > misshapenness > [adverb] > distortedly
wryly1580
distortedlya1688
contortedly1856
twistedly1910
the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [adverb] > in spirally twisted manner
wringly1582
twistingly1731
ropelike1849
torsionally1890
twistedly1910
1910 Westm. Gaz. 2 Feb. 8/2 Every single strand of the tobacco smokes perpendicularly downwards instead of horizontally across, or twistedly diagonal.
1915 Blackwood's Mag. May 590/1 A twistedly pathetic thing a battery team and limber is without a gun.
Draft additions September 2012
twisted nematic adj. Electronics (of a liquid crystal display) that rotates the plane of polarized light passing through it by 90 degrees; of or relating to such a display; cf. supertwisted adj. 2.
ΚΠ
1969 Jrnl. Chem. Physics 51 820/2 The mode..corresponds to a slow relaxation of a twisted nematic structure.
1992 Independent (Nexis) 23 Nov. 17 For the next few years colour screens will continue to use twisted nematic LCDs.
2008 HWM Jan. 95/2 For these Twisted Nematic widescreen boys, response time wasn't an issue at all.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1916; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.1398