twist

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A twisting force.
2. (countable, uncountable) Anything twisted, or the act of twisting.
3. (countable, uncountable) The form given in twisting.
4. (countable, uncountable) The degree of stress or strain when twisted.
5. (countable, uncountable) A type of thread made from two filaments twisted together.
6. (countable, uncountable) A sliver of lemon peel added to a cocktail, etc.
7. (countable, uncountable) A sudden bend (or short series of bends) in a road, path, etc.
8. (countable, uncountable) A distortion to the meaning of a passage or word.
9. (countable, uncountable) An unexpected turn in a story, tale, etc.
10. (countable, uncountable) A modern dance popular in Western culture in the late 1950s and 1960s, based on rotating the hips repeatedly from side to side. See Twist (dance) on Wikipedia for more details.
11. (countable, uncountable) A rotation of the body when diving.
12. (countable, uncountable) A sprain, especially to the ankle.
13. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A twig.
14. (countable, slang, uncountable) A girl, a woman.
15. (countable, uncountable) A roll or baton of baked dough or pastry in a twisted shape.
16. (countable, uncountable) A small roll of tobacco.
17. (countable, uncountable) A material for gun barrels, consisting of iron and steel twisted and welded together.
18. (countable, uncountable) The spiral course of the rifling of a gun barrel or a cannon.
19. (countable, obsolete, slang, uncountable) A beverage made of brandy and gin.
20. (countable, uncountable) A strong individual tendency or bent; inclination.
21. (archaic, countable, slang, uncountable) An appetite for food.
22. (abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable) Ellipsis of hair twist.

Verb

1. To turn the ends of something, usually thread, rope etc., in opposite directions, often using force.
2. To join together by twining one part around another.
3. To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve.
4. To wreathe; to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts.
5. (reflexive) To wind into; to insinuate.
6. To turn a knob etc.
7. To distort or change the truth or meaning of words when repeating.
8. To form a twist (in any of the above noun meanings).
9. To injure (a body part) by bending it in the wrong direction.
10. (intransitive) To wind; to follow a bendy or wavy course; to have many bends.
11. (transitive) To cause to rotate.
12. (intransitive) To dance the twist (a type of dance characterised by twisting one's hips).
13. (transitive) To coax.
14. In the game of blackjack (pontoon or twenty-one), to be dealt another card.

Synonyms

turn

bend

wring

distort

wind

wrench

🔧

twirl

coil

curl

curve

sprain

spin

twine

contort

warp

wriggle

plait

meander

braid

writhe

screw

pervert

roll

squirm

whirl

rotate

weave

winding

crook

kink

spiral

entwine

contortion

bow

🙇

wrest

slant

squeeze

convolute

twisting

strand

wrick

misinterpret

worm

🪱

wrestle

sophisticate

distortion

twist around

misrepresent

turn over

tweak

Translations

tordre

torcer

torcere

verdrehen

torcer

drehen

winden

retorcer

wringen

storcere

tourner

se tordre

kronkelen

Drehung

tortiller

Pronounced as (IPA)

/twɪst/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: twist

Inherited from Old English: *twist

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Twist

Cognate with Dutch: twist

Cognate with German: Zwist

Cognate with Swedish: tvist

Cognate with Icelandic: tvistur

Inherited from Middle English: twisten

Cognate with Dutch: twisten

Cognate with Danish: tviste

Cognate with Swedish: tvista

In summary

PIE word
*dwóh₁
From Middle English twist, from Old English *twist, in compounds (e.g. mæsttwist (“a rope; stay”), candeltwist (“a wick”)), from Proto-Germanic *twistaz, a derivative of *twi- (“two-”) (compare also twine, between, betwixt).
Related to Saterland Frisian Twist (“discord”), Dutch twist (“twist; strife; discord”), German Low German Twist (“strife; discord”), German Zwist (“turmoil; strife; discord”), Swedish tvist (“quarrel; dispute”), Icelandic tvistur (“deuce”).
The verb is from Middle English twisten. Compare Dutch twisten, Danish tviste (“to dispute”), Swedish tvista (“to argue; dispute”).