Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Wrench
Wrench
(rĕnch)
, Noun.
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
With a woeful agony.
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.
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.