Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Wrench

Wrench

(rĕnch)
,
Noun.
[OE.
wrench
deceit, AS.
wrenc
deceit, a twisting; akin to G.
rank
intrigue, crookedness,
renken
to bend, twist, and E.
wring
. √144. See
Wring
, and cf.
Ranch
,
Verb.
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.

Wrench

,
Verb.
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. [GREEK][GREEK][GREEK][GREEK]. See
Wrench
,
Noun.
]
1.
To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence.
Wrench
his sword from him.
Shakespeare
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.

Webster 1828 Edition


Wrench

WRENCH

,
Verb.
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

,
Noun.
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.

Definition 2024


wrench

wrench

English

A double-sided wrench
A pipe/monkey/adjustable wrench

Alternative forms

  • (15th century): wrenche; (15th century): wrinche; (16th century): wringe

Noun

wrench (plural wrenches)

  1. (obsolete) A trick or artifice. [From VIII century.]
    • c. 1210, MS. Cotton Caligula A IX f.246
      Mon mai longe liues wene; / Ac ofte him liedh the wrench.
  2. (obsolete) Deceit; guile; treachery. [From XIII century.]
  3. A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug. [From XVI century.]
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21
      With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us.
  4. An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain. [From XVI century.]
  5. (obsolete) A turn at an acute angle. [From XVI century.]
  6. (archaic) A winch or windlass. [From XVI century.]
  7. (obsolete) A ****. [From XVI century.]
  8. A distorting change from the original meaning. [From XVII century.]
  9. (US) A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner. [From XVIII century.]
  10. (Britain) An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.
  11. A violent emotional change caused by separation. [From XIX century.]
  12. (physics) In **** theory, a **** assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body. [From XIX century.]
  13. (obsolete) means; contrivance
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

wrench (third-person singular simple present wrenches, present participle wrenching, simple past and past participle wrenched)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To violently move in a turn or writhe. [From XI century.]
  2. (transitive) To pull or twist violently. [From XIII century.]
    With a surge of adrenaline, she wrenched the car door off and pulled out the injured man.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To turn aside or deflect. [From XIII century.]
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To slander. [From XIV century.]
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To tighten with or as if with a winch. [From XVI century.]
  6. (transitive) To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting. [From XVI century.]
    Be careful not to wrench your ankle walking along those loose stones!
  7. (transitive) To distort from the original meaning. [From XVI century.]
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion. [From XVI century.]
  9. (intransitive, fencing, obsolete) To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away. [From XVIII century.]
  10. (transitive) To rack with pain. [From XVIII century.]
  11. (transitive) To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist. [From XVIII century.]
  12. (transitive) To use the tool known as a wrench. [From XIX century.]
    The plumber wrenched the pipes until they came loose.

Translations

External links