colloq. [f. prec.]
1. trans. To cause to move or advance in a spiral course.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxxv. Mr. Bantam corkscrewed his way through the crowd.
1872. Daily News, 10 May, 5/7. Herr Gerwig has corkscrewed his line round the Eisenberg.
1887. A. Jessopp, in 19th Cent., March, 370. [The horses] have to be corkscrewed into our diminutive stables?
2. intr. To proceed in a spiral course.
1853. G. J. Cayley, Las Alforjas, I. 117. Imagine an interminable sloping gallery in the wall, corkscrewing round and round the tower.
1883. W. C. Smith, N. Country Folk, 225. With ‘a turnpike stair,’ That corkscrewed up a round tower.
3. trans. To draw out as with a corkscrew; to elicit by roundabout devices, or with effort.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., II. xxiv. 328. From what Small has dropped, and from what we have corkscrewed out of him.
