Dictionary

Twistian en · ADJ

Etymology

From Twist + -ian.

Meanings

1. Of or relating to Oliver Twist (from the 1838 novel by Charles Dickens), a mistreated orphan who scandalizes the workhouse by daring to ask for more food.
   • Thus, the Twistian workhouse is a symptom, not a cause, and Dickens's interest in it is subordinate to a full-scale social critique. 2003, Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Victorian Literature and the Victorian State, page 61:
   • Worst of all, it was the parents of children who learned easily who supported this behavior. They should have known that treating children in a Twistian manner was bound to have negative effects. 2000, David Day, My First Life, page lx:
   • It's the kind of Oliver Twistian advice given frequently to blacks deemed middle class: be grateful for the gruel because children are starving in the inner cities. 1995, Patricia J. Williams, The Rooster's Egg, page 89:

Forms