Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a fist.

1857		‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulgar Tongue.
1858		A. Mayhew Paved with Gold 70: ‘Stand back! [...] and leave the kid alone, or I’ll put out my Chalk Farm (my arm) and give you a rap with my Oliver Twist (fist) over your I suppose (nose) that’ll flatten your chevy chase (face) for you’ he added, menacingly, between his teeth, as he shook his clenched hand in the air.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1953		J. Franklyn Cockney 294: If Liza heard herself so summed up the speaker would get a taste of her Oliver – Oliver Twist, ‘fist’.
1969		S.T. Kendall Up the Frog 13: I got ’im right on the Gunja Din with me Oliver Twist an’ put ’im to Bo-Peep.
1971		J. Jones Rhy. Cockney Sl.
1998–2002		G.D. Smith Cockney Rhy. Sl. 🌐 Oliver Twist: Fist.

2. (Aus.) the wrist.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
2002		D. Shaw ‘Dead Beard’ at www.asstr.org 🌐 We’re close to some bushes now so I step forward and grab Dionne’s oliver twist.

3. a deliberately incorrect entry in a ledger, chiefly bookmaker use; usu. as put the oliver on [the use of the fist to write].

1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 334: twist (the) : To change something written or said from right to wrong. Sometimes called ‘the Oliver Twist,’ or ‘the Oliver.’ A dishonest bookmaker wishing his clerk to enter a bet wrongly, would say : ‘Put the Oliver on it,’ instead of saying : ‘Put the Twist on it’ – which might be understood by the ‘Mug’.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 195: Oliver (Twist) on, put the To put an incorrect entry in any ledger but particularly in a betting ledger, and to do it covertly. A dishonest bookmaker might, when taking a bet, say to his equally dishonest clerk, ‘Put the oliver on that’, meaning that the entry (which might win handsomely) must be altered.

4. (Aus. prison) an indeterminate length of prison sentence.

1968

J. Alard He who Shoots Last 197: ‘I understand he got the twist.’ [Ibid.] 215: Da last old beak he fronted promised him the Oliver if he come before him again. [Ibid.] 262: twist. Often referred to as ‘The Oliver’ (Oliver Twist), it comes from the twist of the key. Key originally meant an indeterminate gaol sentence given to those declared habitual prisoners.