Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Contort

Contort , transitive verb

[Latin contortus, past participle of contorquere to twist; con- + torquere to twist. See Torture.]

To twist, or twist together; to turn awry; to bend; to distort; to wrest.
The vertebral arteries are variously contorted. — Ray
Kant contorted the term category from the proper meaning of attributed. — Sir W. Hamilton