Writhe Definition
rīth
writhed, writhes, writhing
verb
writhed, writhes, writhing
To make twisting or turning movements; contort the body, as in agony; squirm.
Webster's New World
To move with a twisting or contorted motion.
A snake writhed out of the bushes.
American Heritage
To suffer great emotional distress, as from embarrassment or revulsion.
Webster's New World
To cause to twist or turn; contort.
Webster's New World
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
Wiktionary
Antonyms:
- be still
- move easily
- be at ease
- rest
noun
writhes
A writhing movement; contortion.
Webster's New World
(knot theory) The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot.
Wiktionary
Origin of Writhe
-
Middle English writhen, from Old English wrīþan, from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną 'to twist, turn' (cf. Old High German rīdan 'to turn', Old Norse ríða 'to wind'), from Proto-Indo-European (compare Lithuanian riēsti 'to unbend, wind, roll').
From Wiktionary
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Middle English writhen from Old English wrīthan wer-2 in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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