corkscrew

1. (intransitive) To wind or twist in the manner of a corkscrew; to move with much horizontal and vertical shifting.Examples: "Into the tea–room Mr. Pickwick turned; and catching sight of him, Mr. Bantam corkscrewed his way through the crowd and welcomed him with ecstasy."; "The street corkscrewed endlessly. Sometimes it seemed to stop; then it found a hole in the opposing masonry and edged its way in."; "Far off to starboard an Atlantic liner, all lights blazing, came towards us, corkscrewing with a motion which must have left the passengers unhappy."intransitive

2. (transitive) To cause something to twist or move in a spiral path or shape.Examples: "Caught and twisted—corkscrewed in the mazes of the line, loose harpoons and lances, with all their bristling barbs and points, came flashing and dripping up to the chocks in the bows of Ahab’s boat."; "Rusty corkscrewed the plane back down again, but instead of mashing the throttles to the wall, he pulled them to idle."; "Soon he was corkscrewed into place, suspended from the ceiling in an impossible maze of unforgiving circuitry."Synonyms: spiraltransitive

3. (transitive, informal) To extract information or consent from someone.Examples: "I strongly suspect (from what Small has dropped, and from what we have corkscrewed out of him) that those letters I was to have brought to your ladyship were not destroyed when I supposed they were."; "Yes, I believe you did after it was corkscrewed out of you, but I got the impression at the outset that you were, just as willing to let it stand there."informaltransitive