bend vs twist

bend

verb
  • To become curved. 

  • To stoop. 

  • To cause (something) to change its shape into a curve, by physical force, chemical action, or any other means. 

  • To cause to change direction. 

  • To change direction. 

  • To force to submit. 

  • To submit. 

  • To apply oneself to a task or purpose. 

  • To tie, as in securing a line to a cleat; to shackle a chain to an anchor; make fast. 

  • To adapt or interpret to for a purpose or beneficiary. 

  • To apply to a task or purpose. 

  • To smoothly change the pitch of a note. 

  • To be inclined; to direct itself. 

  • To bow in prayer, or in token of submission. 

  • To swing the body when rowing. 

noun
  • The thickest and strongest planks in a ship's sides, more generally called wales, which have the beams, knees, and futtocks bolted to them. 

  • Hard, indurated clay; bind. 

  • In the leather trade, the best quality of sole leather; a butt; sometimes, half a butt cut lengthwise. 

  • A curve. 

  • The frames or ribs that form the ship's body from the keel to the top of the sides. 

  • Any of the various knots which join the ends of two lines. 

  • One of the honourable ordinaries formed by two diagonal lines drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base; it generally occupies a fifth part of the shield if uncharged, but if charged one third. 

  • A severe condition caused by excessively quick decompression, causing bubbles of nitrogen to form in the blood; decompression sickness. 

  • A glissando, or glide between one pitch and another. 

twist

verb
  • To wind; to follow a bendy or wavy course; to have many bends. 

  • To turn the ends of something, usually thread, rope etc., in opposite directions, often using force. 

  • To wreathe; to wind; to encircle; to unite by intertexture of parts. 

  • To distort or change the truth or meaning of words when repeating. 

  • In the game of blackjack (pontoon or twenty-one), to be dealt another card. 

  • To turn a knob etc. 

  • To join together by twining one part around another. 

  • To wind into; to insinuate. 

  • To form a twist (in any of the above noun meanings). 

  • To injure (a body part) by bending it in the wrong direction. 

  • To cause to rotate. 

  • To contort; to writhe; to complicate; to crook spirally; to convolve. 

  • To coax. 

  • To dance the twist (a type of dance characterised by twisting one's hips). 

noun
  • A sliver of lemon peel added to a cocktail, etc. 

  • A distortion to the meaning of a word or passage. 

  • A sudden bend (or short series of bends) in a road, path, etc. 

  • A twisting force. 

  • The form given in twisting. 

  • An unexpected turn in a story, tale, etc. 

  • A roll or baton of baked dough or pastry in a twisted shape. 

  • The spiral course of the rifling of a gun barrel or a cannon. 

  • A type of dance characterised by rotating one’s hips. See Twist (dance) on Wikipedia for more details. 

  • A strong individual tendency or bent; inclination. 

  • The degree of stress or strain when twisted. 

  • Anything twisted, or the act of twisting. 

  • A small roll of tobacco. 

  • A sprain, especially to the ankle. 

  • A girl, a woman. 

  • A material for gun barrels, consisting of iron and steel twisted and welded together. 

  • A type of thread made from two filaments twisted together. 

  • A rotation of the body when diving. 

How often have the words bend and twist occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )