Twistian

comparative more Twistian · superlative most Twistian

1. Of or relating to Oliver Twist (from the 1838 novel by Charles Dickens), a mistreated orphan who scandalizes the workhouse by daring to ask for more food.

   Thus, the Twistian workhouse is a symptom, not a cause, and Dickens's interest in it is subordinate to a full-scale social critique.

   2003, Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Victorian Literature and the Victorian State, page 61

   2 more examples

   It's the kind of Oliver Twistian advice given frequently to blacks deemed middle class: be grateful for the gruel because children are starving in the inner cities.

   1995, Patricia J. Williams, The Rooster's Egg, page 89

   Worst of all, it was the parents of children who learned easily who supported this behavior. They should have known that treating children in a Twistian manner was bound to have negative effects.

   2000, David Day, My First Life, page lx