twistical

comparative more twistical · superlative most twistical

1. archaiccolloquialregionalCrooked; tortuous.First known use late 18th century

   1871, John William De Forest, Overland, New York: Sheldon, Chapter 15, p. 79, He had queer twistical ways of reasoning which often proved the contrary of what he seemed to want to prove;

   3 more examples

   […] I will meet Mr. Paine again at Point-no-Point, very properly so named because, as he observes, “it continually recedes at a distance a-head; and when you have got as far as you can go there is no point at all.” So it is with Mr. Paine’s twistical reflections on religion and government:

   1791, Isaac Hunt, Rights of Englishman, London: J. Bew, page 28

   […] then he showed the white of his teeth in a twistical smile.

   1965, Sid Fleischman, The Ghost in the Noonday Sun, Boston: Little, Brown, Chapter , p. 11

   ‘There’s many still believes a priest could make a toad of you. All it would take was a twistical squint off his eyes. […]’

   2001, Jamie O’Neill, At Swim, Two Boys, London: Scribner, Part 1, Chapter 6, p. 136

2. archaiccolloquialregionalPerverse; unfair; dishonest.First known use late 18th century

   1836, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker, Halifax, NS: J. Howe, p. 111, […] well, he was a deep, sly, twistical lookin chap, as you een amost ever seed.

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   c. 1797 John Leland, remark made while preaching, cited in Berkshire Historical and Scientific Society, Berkshire Book, 1892, Volume 1, p. 283, Godward he is an excellent man, manward he is rather twistical.

   […] if you can fix Melinda Smoot for behaving so twistical to her, I’ll thank you forever.

   1936, Helen Albee Monsell, chapter 15, in The Secret of the Chestnut Tree, Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, pages 156-157