writhingly

writhingly

English

Etymology

writhing +‎ -ly

Adverb

writhingly (comparative more writhingly, superlative most writhingly)

1. With a writhing motion.
   • 1822, uncredited author, “The Nightmare” (Review of Smarra, ou les Démons de la Nuit by Charles Nodier (1821), including free translations of passages from the novella), The New Monthly Magazine, Volume 4, p. 524,

     […] the monster sprang from her burning hand, turned writhingly and rapidly in the air, outspread his wildly-fashioned wings, uprose, sank down, expanded, shrunk […]

   • 1852, Herman Melville, Pierre; or, The Ambiguities, New York: Harper, Book 25, Chapter 5, p. 473,

     And now, just as he crossed the threshold of the closet, he writhingly strove to assume an expression intended to be not uncheerful […]

   • 1914, Sinclair Lewis, Our Mr. Wrenn, New York: Grosset & Dunlap, Chapter 6, p. 71,

     […] Mr. Wrenn writhingly admitted that he had never heard of Shelley […]

   • 1959, Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan, New York: Dial, 2006, Chapter 4, p. 102,

     Heroically, the man at the stake now overcame the will of his antenna, spoke rapidly, writhingly.

   • 1999, Simon Schama, Rembrandt’s Eyes, New York: Knopf, Part 3, Chapter 5, p. 218,

     […] the most glaring problem about gauging the influence that van Mander’s rules had on subsequent generations is that they so very obviously describe his own output: classically statuesque at the beginning; elastically, writhingly mannerist at the end.