(verb) : rĕ-torquĕo, si, tum, 2
* To twist or bend back; to turn or cast back (class.; cf. reflecto).
* 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,to wrap about, cast about,Verg. A. 8, 460: amictum,id. ib. 12, 400: crinem,to crisp, frizzle,Mart. 6, 39, 6: litore violenter undas,to drive back, repulse,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.
* 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,to alter, change,Verg. A. 12, 841.