n. [ L. acus needle + torsion. ] (Med.) The twisting of an artery with a needle to arrest hemorrhage. [ Not in Stedman -- an obsolete procedure? ][ archaic ] AS [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. The position or office of an administrator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or function of auditor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or office of a coadjutor; joint assistance. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a collector of customs or of taxes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or occupation of a commentator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Contortion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. State or condition of a creator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a curator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Detortion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office, or the term of office, of a dictator; hence, absolute power. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition or office of a director; directorate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Doctorate. [ R. ] Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or charge of an editor; care and superintendence of a publication. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or status of an elector.

n. The office of an executor. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Extort. ] Serving or tending to extort. [ R. ] Johnson. -- Ex*tor"sive*ly, adv. [R.] [1913 Webster]

n. The business of a factor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Conduct, state, or art, of a gladiator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state or office of an imitator. “Servile imitatorship.” Marston. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The condition, character, or practice of an impostor. Milton.

n. 1. The office of an inspector. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The district embraced by an inspector's jurisdiction. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the office or position of an instructor. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ L. intortio a curling, crisping: cf. F. intorsion. See Intort, and cf. Intortion. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A winding, bending, or twisting. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) The bending or twining of any part of a plant toward one side or the other, or in any direction from the vertical. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a legislator. Halifax. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or character of a mediator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a moderator. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The post or office of a monitor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Pastorate. Bp. Bull. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a precentor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or dignity of a pretor. J. Warton [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or dignity of a proctor; also, the term of his office. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or term of a procurator. Bp. Pearson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being a progenitor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a prolocutor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being proprietor; ownership. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of a protector or regent; protectorate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office, or the term of office, of a questor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Government; guidance. [ Obs. ] “The rectorship of judgment.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The office or rank of a rector; rectorate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Retortion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office or dignity of a senator. Carew. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office, rank, or condition of a servitor. Boswell. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The office or quality of a spectator. [ R. ] Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of beholding. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] A twisted cord; also, a molded or worked ornament of similar form.

The crown decked with torsades of pearls. Harper's Mag. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Carp.) A torsel. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF., fr. OF. & F. tors, torse, twisted, wreathed, p. p. of tordre to twist, L. torquere. See Torture. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Her.) A wreath. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ F. tors, torse, twisted. ] (Geom.) A developable surface. See under Developable. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Carp.) A plate of timber for the end of a beam or joist to rest on. Gwilt [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The tendency, as of a rope, to untwist after being twisted. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. LL. torsio, fr. L. torquere, tortum, to twist. See Torture. ] 1. The act of turning or twisting, or the state of being twisted; the twisting or wrenching of a body by the exertion of a lateral force tending to turn one end or part of it about a longitudinal axis, while the other is held fast or turned in the opposite direction. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mech.) That force with which a thread, wire, or rod of any material, returns, or tends to return, to a state of rest after it has been twisted; torsibility. [ 1913 Webster ]

Angle of torsion (of a curve) (Geom.), the indefinitely small angle between two consecutive osculating planes of a curve of double curvature. --
Moment of torsion (Mech.) the moment of a pair of equal and opposite couples which tend to twist a body. --
Torsion balance (Physics.), an instrument for estimating very minute forces, as electric or magnetic attractions and repulsions, by the torsion of a very slender wire or fiber having at its lower extremity a horizontal bar or needle, upon which the forces act. --
Torsion scale, a scale for weighing in which the fulcra of the levers or beams are strained wires or strips acting by torsion. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to torsion; resulting from torsion, or the force with which a thread or wire returns to a state of rest after having been twisted round its axis; as, torsional force. [ 1913 Webster ]