coiled

Lancaster’s Darren is like a coiled snake, ready to spring at the most unexpected moments.

His West Virginia home bordered a cattle farm, the backyard and back pasture separated by a fence of loosely coiled barbed wire.

The weather was “fine for trimming trees,” said Adrian Rodriguez, as he tossed a coiled garden hose into the back of an ancient Nissan pickup.

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.