twist

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
twist/twɪst/

▶verb

• 1 form into a bent, curled, or distorted shape.

  ■ turn or bend round or into a different direction.

  ■ force or be forced out of the natural position by twisting: he twisted his ankle playing tennis.

• 2 rotate around something that remains stationary; turn.

  ■ move around each other; interlace.

  ■ take or have a winding course.

• 3 distort or misrepresent the meaning of.

  ■ (as adj. twisted) (of a personality or behaviour) unpleasantly or unhealthily abnormal.

• 4 dance the twist.

• 5 Brit. informal cheat; defraud.

• 6 (in pontoon) request, deal, or be dealt a card face upwards.

▶noun

• 1 an act or instance of twisting.

  ■ (the twist) a dance with a twisting movement of the body, popular in the 1960s.

• 2 a thing with a spiral shape.

  ■ Brit. a paper packet with twisted ends.

  ■ a small quantity of tobacco, sugar, etc., wrapped in such a packet.

• 3 force producing twisting; torque.

  ■ forward motion combined with rotation about an axis.

  ■ the rifling in the bore of a gun.

• 4 an unexpected, typically unwelcome, development of events.

  ■ a new treatment or outlook: she takes conventional subjects and gives them a twist.

• 5 a fine strong thread consisting of twisted fibres.

• 6 Brit. a drink consisting of two ingredients mixed together.

• 7 Brit. informal a swindle.

• 8 a carpet with a tightly curled pile.

– phrases
round the twist Brit. informal crazy.
twist someone's arm informal forcefully persuade someone to do something that they are reluctant to do.
twist in the wind be left in a state of suspense or uncertainty.

– derivatives
twisty adjective (twistier, twistiest).

– origin OE, of Gmc origin; prob. from the base of twin and twine.