Twist Meaning
/twɪst/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA twisting force.
nounAnything twisted, or the act of twisting.
Sentence Examples
Dickens was the author of 'Oliver Twist'.
Twist that knob to the right and the box will open.
She gave the lid another twist and it came off.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He had to ____ the wet towel to squeeze out the water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need to ____ the cap of the bottle to open it and pour yourself a cool glass of fresh water today.
Word Origin & History
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”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Peter was always proud afterwards when he remembered that, with the Bargee's furious fingers tightening on his ear, the Bargee's crimson countenance close to his own, the Bargee's hot breath on his neck, he had the courage to speak the truth.
"I wasn't catching fish," said Peter.
"That's not your fault, I'll be bound," said the man, giving Peter's ear a twist—not a hard one—but still a twist."
— 1906, Edith Nesbit, chapter 8, in The Railway Children:
"Not the least turn or twist in the fibres of any one animal which does not render them more proper for that particular animal's way of life than any other cast or texture."
— 1711 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, July 18, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 120; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
"Habakkuk brought him a ſmooth, ſtrong, tough Rope, made of many a ply of vvholeſome Scandinavian Hemp, compactly tvviſted together, vvith a Nooſe that ſlip'd as glib as a Bird-catcher's Gin. Jack ſhrunk and grevv pale at firſt ſight of it, he handled it, meaſur'd it, ſtretch'd it, fix'd it againſt the Iron-bar of the VVindovv to try its ſtrength, but not Familiarity could reconcile him to it. He found fault vvith the length, the thickneſs, and the tvviſt, nay, the very colour did not pleaſe him."
— 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “How Jack Hang’d Himself Up by the Perswasion of His Friends, who Broke Their Word, and Left His Neck in the Noose”, in An Appendix to John Bull Still in His Senses: Or, Law is a Bottomless-Pit. […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Morphew, […], →OCLC, page 16:
"the thrid
By griesly Lachesis was spun with paine,
That cruell Atropos eftsoones vndid,
With cursed knife cutting the twist in twaine […]"
— 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
"Bunny sat on the only remaining stool at the leather-padded oval bar in the Iron Lounge. It was happy hour, two drinks for the price of one. She decided on a martini with a twist, and while the bartender was preparing her drink, she scanned the faces looking at the bar."
— 2005, Theodore J. Albasini, The Progeny:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He had to ____ the wet towel to squeeze out the water.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
You need to ____ the cap of the bottle to open it and pour yourself a cool glass of fresh water today.