3 uses
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Definition
twist or bend to an unnatural shape — something such as the human body, a facial expression, or the truth
- In this particular case, however mechanical and innocuous it might be at other times, Hepzibah's contortion of brow served her in good stead.Chapter 3 — The First Customer (92% in)
- Face to face with this picture, on entering the apartment, Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon came to a pause; regarding it with a singular scowl, a strange contortion of the brow, which, by people who did not know her, would probably have been interpreted as an expression of bitter anger and ill-will.Chapter 2 — The Little Shop-Window (32% in)
- How could he,—so yellow as she was, so wrinkled, so sad of mien, with that odd uncouthness of a turban on her head, and that most perverse of scowls contorting her brow,—how could he love to gaze at her?Chapter 7 — The Guest (68% in)
There are no more uses of "contort" in The House of the Seven Gables.
Typical Usage
(best examples)