writhe(v = verb.motion) squirm, twist, worm, wrestle, wriggle - to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling); "The prisoner writhed in discomfort"; "The child tried to wriggle free from his aunt's embrace"
is one way to move
Sample sentences:
The crowds writhe in the streets; The streets writhe with crowds
1. To twist; to turn; now, usually, to twist or turn so as to distort; to wring. Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
"Then Satan first knew pain,
And writhed him to and fro." [1913 Webster]
"Her mouth she writhed, her forehead taught to frown." [1913 Webster]
"His battle-writhen arms, and mighty hands." [1913 Webster]
2. To wrest; to distort; to pervert. [1913 Webster]
"The reason which he yieldeth showeth the least part of his meaning to be that whereunto his words are writhed." [1913 Webster]
3. To extort; to wring; to wrest. [1913 Webster]
"The nobility hesitated not to follow the example of their sovereign in writhing money from them by every species of oppression." [1913 Webster]
To twist or contort the body; to be distorted; as, to writhe with agony. Also used figuratively. [1913 Webster]
"After every attempt, he felt that he had failed, and writhed with shame and vexation." [1913 Webster]
writhe, v. & n.
--v.
1 intr. twist or roll oneself about in or as if in acute pain.
2 intr. suffer severe mental discomfort or embarrassment (writhed with shame; writhed at the thought of it).
3 tr. twist (one's body etc.) about.
--n. an act of writhing.
Etymology:
OE writhan, rel. to WREATHE
VB distort, contort, twist, warp, wrest, writhe, make faces, deform, misshape.
VB be agitated, shake, tremble, tremble like an aspen leaf, quiver, quaver, quake, shiver, twitter, twire, writhe, toss, shuffle, tumble, stagger, bob, reel, sway, wag, waggle, wriggle, wriggle like an eel, dance, stumble, shamble, flounder, totter, flounce, flop, curvet, prance, cavort, squirm, throb, pulsate, beat, palpitate, go pitapat, flutter, flitter, flicker, bicker, bustle, ferment, effervesce, foam, boil, boil over, bubble up, simmer, toss about, jump about, jump like a parched pea, shake like an aspen leaf, shake to its center, shake to its foundations, be the sport of the winds and waves, reel to and fro like a drunken man, move from post to pillar and from pillar to post, drive from post to pillar and from pillar to post, keep between hawk and buzzard, agitate, shake, convulse, toss, tumble, bandy, wield, brandish, flap, flourish, whisk, jerk, hitch, jolt, jog, joggle, jostle, buffet, hustle, disturb, stir, shake up, churn, jounce, wallop, whip, vellicate.
VB feel pain, experience pain, suffer pain, undergo pain, suffer, ache, smart, bleed, tingle, shoot, twinge, twitch, lancinate, writhe, wince, make a wry face, sit on thorns, sit on pins and needles, give pain, inflict pain, lacerate, pain, hurt, chafe, sting, bite, gnaw, gripe, pinch, tweak, grate, gall, fret, prick, pierce, wring, convulse, torment, torture, rack, agonize, crucify, cruciate, excruciate, break on the wheel, put to the rack, flog, grate on the ear.