Adjacent Words

Wrench definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WRENCH, v.t. [See Wring.]
1. To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist or force by violence; as, to wrench a sword from anothers hand.
2. To strain; to sprain; to distort.
You wrenched your foot against a stone.
WRENCH, n.
1. A violent twist, or a pull with twisting.
2. A sprain; an injury by twisting; as in a joint.
3. An instrument for screwing or unscrewing iron work.
4. Means of compulsion. [Not used.]
5. In the plural, sleights; subtilties.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a sharp strain on muscles or ligaments; "the wrench to his knee occurred as he fell"; "he was sidelined with a hamstring pull" [syn: wrench, twist, pull]
2: a jerky pulling movement [syn: twist, wrench]
3: a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt [syn: wrench, spanner] v
1: twist or pull violently or suddenly, especially so as to remove (something) from that to which it is attached or from where it originates; "wrench a window off its hinges"; "wrench oneself free from somebody's grip"; "a deep sigh was wrenched from his chest" [syn: wrench, twist]
2: make a sudden twisting motion
3: twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish; "Wring one's hand" [syn: wring, wrench]
4: twist suddenly so as to sprain; "wrench one's ankle"; "The wrestler twisted his shoulder"; "the hikers sprained their ankles when they fell"; "I turned my ankle and couldn't walk for several days" [syn: twist, sprain, wrench, turn, wrick, rick]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English, from Old English wrencan; akin to Old High German renken to twist and perhaps to Latin vergere to bend, incline Date: before 12th century intransitive verb 1. to move with a violent twist; also to undergo twisting 2. to pull or strain at something with violent twisting transitive verb 1. to twist violently 2. to injure or disable by a violent twisting or straining <wrenched her back> 3. change; especially distort, pervert 4. a. to pull or tighten by violent twisting or with violence b. to snatch forcibly ; wrest 5. to cause to suffer mental anguish ; rack • wrenchingly adverb II. noun Date: 1530 1. a. a violent twisting or a pull with or as if with twisting b. a sharp twist or sudden jerk straining muscles or ligaments; also the resultant injury (as of a joint) c. a distorting or perverting alteration d. acute emotional distress ; sudden violent mental change 2. a hand or power tool for holding, twisting, or turning an object (as a bolt or nut) 3. monkey wrench 2

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a violent twist or oblique pull or act of tearing off. 2 an adjustable tool like a spanner for gripping and turning nuts etc. 3 an instance of painful uprooting or parting (leaving home was a great wrench). 4 Physics a combination of a couple with the force along its axis. --v.tr. 1 twist or pull violently round or sideways. 2 (often foll. by off, away, etc.) pull off with a wrench. 3 distort (facts) to suit a theory etc. Etymology: (earlier as verb:) OE wrencan twist

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wrench Wrench (r[e^]nch), n. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. [root]144. See Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.] 1. Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [Obs.] His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee. --Chaucer. 2. A violent twist, or a pull with twisting. He wringeth them such a wrench. --Skelton. The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere. --De Quincey. 3. A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint. 4. Means; contrivance. [Obs.] --Bacon. 5. An instrument, often a simple bar or lever with jaws or an angular orifice either at the end or between the ends, for exerting a twisting strain, as in turning bolts, nuts, screw taps, etc.; a screw key. Many wrenches have adjustable jaws for grasping nuts, etc., of different sizes. 6. (Mech.) The system made up of a force and a couple of forces in a plane perpendicular to that force. Any number of forces acting at any points upon a rigid body may be compounded so as to be equivalent to a wrench. Carriage wrench, a wrench adapted for removing or tightening the nuts that confine the wheels on the axles, or for turning the other nuts or bolts of a carriage or wagon. Monkey wrench. See under Monkey. Wrench hammer, a wrench with the end shaped so as to admit of being used as a hammer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wrench Wrench, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrenched; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrenching.] [OE. wrenchen, AS. wrencan to deceive, properly, to twist, from wrenc guile, deceit, a twisting. ????. See Wrench, n.] 1. To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence. Wrench his sword from him. --Shak. Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woeful agony. --Coleridge. 2. To strain; to sprain; hence, to distort; to pervert. You wrenched your foot against a stone. --Swift.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wrenches, wrenching, wrenched) 1. If you wrench something that is fixed in a particular position, you pull or twist it violently, in order to move or remove it. He felt two men wrench the suitcase from his hand... They wrenched open the passenger doors and jumped into her car. VERB: V n prep, V n with adj 2. If you wrench yourself free from someone who is holding you, you get away from them by suddenly twisting the part of your body that is being held. She wrenched herself from his grasp... He wrenched his arm free... She tore at one man's face as she tried to wrench free... VERB: V pron-refl prep, V n adj, V adj 3. If you wrench one of your joints, you twist it and injure it. He had wrenched his ankle badly from the force of the fall. VERB: V n 4. If you say that leaving someone or something is a wrench, you feel very sad about it. (BRIT) I always knew it would be a wrench to leave Essex after all these years... Although it would be a wrench, we would all accept the challenge of moving abroad. N-SING: usu a N to-inf/-ing 5. A wrench or a monkey wrench is an adjustable metal tool used for tightening or loosening metal nuts of different sizes. N-COUNT 6. If someone throws a wrench or throws a monkey wrench into a process, they prevent something happening smoothly by deliberately causing a problem. (AM; in BRIT, use throw a spanner in the works) Their delegation threw a giant monkey wrench into the process this week by raising all sorts of petty objections. PHRASE: V inflects, PHR in/into n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Wrest, wring, twist. 2. Sprain, strain, distort. II. n. 1. Twist, wring. 2. Sprain, strain. 3. Screw-key.

Moby Thesaurus

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