Also 6–7 wrythe. [f. next. Cf. WREATH sb., and OHG. rida ‘tensio.’
† 1. Something twisted, wreathed or formed into a circular shape; a twisted band; a wreath. Obs.
1513. Douglas, Æneid, V. x. 25. The writhe of gold, or chane lowpit in ringis.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Luke vii. 74. To brede [her hair] with wrythes of golde enterlaced emong it.
1569. Underdowne, Heliodorus, IX. 127. [Each] hathe a round Wrythe vpon his head, in which their Arrowes are set in order.
† b. (See quot. and cf. WRITH.) Obs.–0
1552. Huloet, Wrythes, or any thing that may be wrythed about like a willow or osier, vitilia, ium.
c. A curled or twisted formation; a wreath or twist.
1857. Ruskin, Arrows of Chace (1880), I. 219. The castle sate its rock as a strong rider sits his horse,—fitting its limbs to every writhe of the flint beneath it.
1874. R. Tyrwhitt, Sketching Club, 164. The writhe in his mustache.
2. An act of writhing; a twisting or writhing movement of the body, countenance, etc.; a contortion.
1611. Cotgr., Torse,… a wrest, wrinch; wrythe.
1767. S. Paterson, Another Trav., I. 185. Men who … could watch the excruciating writhes … of others.
1796. Instr. & Reg. Cavalry (1813), 29. The head or leading flank … whose writhes and turnings are followed by every other part of the body [of troops].
1812. Chalmers, Biogr. Dict., V. 312. He … expired … without a writhe in his countenance.
1890. Miss Broughton, Alas! xvi. The silent writhe with which Jim receives this piece of information.
† b. A twinge of pain, etc. Obs.–1
1792. A. Young, Trav. France, 133. I had some writhes of it [sc. rheumatism] before I entered Champagne.
3. Degree of tautness; tension. rare–1.
1879. Grove’s Dict. Mus., I. 135. A body … of parchment, strained upon a hoop to the required writhe or degree of stiffness for resonance.
