Twistian

English

Etymology

From Twist +‎ -ian.

Adjective

Twistian (comparative more Twistian, superlative most Twistian)

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.
   • 1995, Patricia J. Williams, The Rooster's Egg, page 89:

     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.

   • 2000, David Day, My First Life, page lx:

     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.

   • 2003, Lauren M. E. Goodlad, Victorian Literature and the Victorian State, page 61:

     Thus, the Twistian workhouse is a symptom, not a cause, and Dickens's interest in it is subordinate to a full-scale social critique.