dis-torqueo, rsi, rtum (supine, distorsum acc. to Prisc. 871 P.), 2, v. a., to turn different ways, to twist, distort (rare but class.). Prop.: os, Ter. Eun. 4, 4, 3; so, ora cachinno, Ov. A. A. 3, 287: oculos, Hor. S. 1, 9, 65: labra, Quint. 1, 11, 9.

— Meton., to torment, torture. Lit., Sen. Ben. 7, 19; Suet. Dom. 10.

— Trop.: quem repulsa distorqueat (with amore cruciari), Sen. Ep. 74: cogitationem, Petr. 52, 2.

—Hence, distortus, a, um, P. a., distorted, misshapen, deformed, dwarfish. Lit.: distortus ejecta lingua, Cic. de Or. 2, 66, 266; cf. Suet. Aug. 83; Quint. 2, 5, 11: vultus, id. 6, 3, 29: crura, Hor. S. 1, 3, 47: solos sapientes esse, si distortissimi sint, formosos, Cic. Mur. 29, 61; cf. Suet. Galb. 21.

—Plur. as subst.: pumili atque distorti, id. Aug. 83.

— Trop.: nullum (genus enuntiandi) distortius, more perverse, unseemly, Cic. Fat. 8 fin.

—Adv. does not occur.