Hypertext Webster Gateway: "contortion"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Contortion \Con*tor"tion\, n. [L. contortio: cf. F. contorsion.
See {Contort}, and cf. {Torsion}.]
A twisting; a writhing; wry motion; a twist; as, the
contortion of the muscles of the face. --Swift.
All the contortions of the sibyl, without the
inspiration. --Burke.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
contortion
n 1: the act of twisting or deforming the shape of something
(e.g., yourself) [syn: {deformation}]
2: a tortuous and twisted shape or position; "they built a tree
house in the tortuosities of its boughs"; "the acrobat
performed incredible contortions" [syn: {tortuosity}, {tortuousness},
{torsion}, {crookedness}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.