tortive

English

Etymology

From Latin torquere (“to twist”). Sometimes attributed to Shakespeare.

Adjective

tortive (comparative more tortive, superlative most tortive)

1. Twisted; wreathed.
   • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     [K]nots, by the conflux of meeting sap,
     Infect the sound pine, and divert his grain
     Tortive and errant from his course of growth.