writhe

verb

1. (transitive)To twist, wring (something).
2. (transitive)To contort (a part of the body).

   “Cicero (as I remember) had gotten a custome to wryth his nose, which signifieth a naturall scoffer.”

   “She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good! / She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! / They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, / Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, / Cold, on the stroke of midnight, / The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!”

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.”

4. (transitive)To extort.

noun

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