Retorqueo, retorques, retorsi, retortum, retorquêre. To caste or vir east backeward: to throwe or shoote againe: to turne backe againe violently. vt Retorquere pilam. Cic.To caste or throwe backe againe, &c.Caput in sua terga retorsit.Ouid.He writhed or turned hys heade towarde his backe.Colla retorquere ferocis equi. Oui. To turne backe a fterce horse with the bridle.Currus auersos retorsit.Virg.He turned backe the chariots.Retorqueri sub terra. Pli. To be dowed backe and put vnder the ground.Retorquere telam. Pli. To vndoe a web that is wouen: to vntwist.Retorquere sarmenrum. Colu. To wrest a twig.Oculos retorquere.Ouid.To turne backe his eyes.Oculos ad vrbem retorquere. C. To looke backe toward, &c.Animum retorquere ad præterita. Sen. To bende his mind to consider things past.Aliquem retorquere. Qui. To ne one from his purpose.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
rĕ-torquĕo, si, tum, 2, v. a., to twist or bend back; to turn or cast back (class.; cf. reflecto). I.Lit.: caput in sua terga (anguis), Ov. M. 3, 68: ora, id. ib. 4, 715: ora ad os Phoebi, id. ib. 11, 163: oculos saepe ad hanc urbem, Cic. Cat. 2, 1, 2: oculos, Ov. M. 10, 696: omnium oculos in se, Quint. Decl. 8, 8: tergo bracchia, Hor. C. 3, 5, 22; cf.: manibus retortis, id. Ep. 2, 1, 191: cervices, Plin. Pan. 34, 3: ferocis equi colla, Ov. H. 4, 79: pantherae terga,
, Hor. C. 1, 2, 13: Rhoetum unguibus leonis, id. ib. 2, 19, 23: vela ab Euboïcis aquis, Ov. Tr. 1, 1, 84: viam, i. e.
to return by the same way
, Claud. Phaen. 27: de bysso retorta, Vulg. Exod. 26, 1: missilia in hostem, Curt. 6, 1, 15: quod me retorsisti (a morte), Quint. Decl. 17, 18. — Mid.: ubi paulatim retorqueri agmen ad dextram conspexerunt, to wheel around, Caes. B. C. 1, 69, 3.—II.Trop.: animum ad praeterita, to turn or cast back, Sen. Ben. 3, 3, 3: scelus in auctorem, Just. 34, 4, 2; cf.: crimina in eum, Dig. 38, 2, 14, 6; and simply argumentum, to retort upon one's opponent, App. Flor. p. 360, 33: mentem,