writhe

Etymology

From Middle English writhen, from Old English wrīþan, from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan, from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to weave, twist, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist, writhe”). Cognate with Middle Dutch writen (“to turn, twist”), dialectal German reiden (“to turn, twist, lace”), Danish vride (“to twist”), Swedish vrida (“to turn, twist, wind”), French rider (“to wrinkle, furrow, ruffle”, (< Germanic)). Compare also Lithuanian riēsti (“to unbend, wind, roll”).

verb

1. (transitive) To twist, wring (something).
2. (transitive) To contort (a part of the body).
3. (intransitive) To twist bodily; to contort one's self; to be distorted.
   The game was engulfed in controversy when Rodwell appeared to win the ball cleanly in a midfield challenge with Suarez. The tackle drew an angry response from Liverpool's players- Lucas in particular as Suarez writhed in agony - but it was an obvious injustice when the England Under-21 midfielder was shown the red card. October 1, 2011, Phil McNulty, “Everton 0-2 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport
4. (transitive) To extort.

noun

1. (rare) A contortion.
2. (knot theory) The number of negative crossings subtracted from the number of positive crossings in a knot