intort

English

Etymology

Latin intortus, past participle of intoquere (“to twist”) equivalent to in- (“in-”) + torquereto (“twist”).

Verb

intort (third-person singular simple present intorts, present participle intorting, simple past and past participle intorted)

1. To twist in and out; to twine; to wreathe, wind, or wring.
   • 1726, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, The Odyssey of Homer, published 2008, page 44:

     With reverend hand the king presents the gold, / Which round th′ intorted horns the gilder roll′d, / So wrought, as Pallas might with pride behold.

2. (medicine, ophthalmology) To twist inwards.
   • 2002, Sunita Agarwal, Athiya Agarwal, David J. Apple, Textbook of Ophthalmology, Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers, India, psge 338,

     If we tilt the head to the right, the right eye will intort and the left eye will extort. […] So, if the right eye intorts, it means the superiors in that eye (RSR and RSO) work and if the left eye extorts it means the inferiors of that eye (LIO and LIR) work.

   • 2003, Thomas Brandt, Vertigo: Its Multisensory Syndromes, page 194:

     For the right labyrinth, however, both vertical semicircular canals produce clockwise slow phases (ipsilateral eye intorts, contralateral eye extorts).

   • 2007, Kenneth Weston Wright, Color Atlas of Strabismus Surgery: Strategies and Techniques, page 185:

     Figure 18.12. The needles are withdrawn from the sclera, and the sutures are pulled to advance the anterior tendon laterally, while the eye is intorted by rotating it with the large hook.

   • 2011, Peter Urban, Louis R. Caplan, Brainstem Disorders, page 124:

     These conditions are reversed after every hemicycle, i.e. the previously higher intorted eye is then lowered and extorted, and the previously lowered extorted eye becomes higher and intorted (Fig. 3.7).

Synonyms

• (twist): contort, writhe

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “twist inwards”): extort

Anagrams

• Triton, rottin', triton