coil

Halfway through, he ran to the piano and tapped out a “somber and slow” waltz idea, and on top of it a dark, coiling melody — with “something off but also maybe something romantic in it.”

Anyone who bought it would own shares in a cartoon character that resembled a metal coil.

But the unexpected appearance of his father at the scene is, to judge by the coiled anger on Holland’s face, as if someone had defaced one of his works with an alien hue.

Barrett’s voice was tightly coiled, as though he was choking back the indignation roiling inside him.

Finally, she emerged to a battlefield vision: coils of smoke, blood-streaked stairs and blackened walls gouged with scores of bullets.