wrench

Meanings

Noun

• A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug.
• An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain.
• A trick or artifice.
• Deceit; guile; treachery.
• A turn at an acute angle.
• A winch or windlass.
• A screw.
• A distorting change from the original meaning.
• A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner.
• An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.
• A violent emotional change caused by separation.
• In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body.
• means; contrivance
• In coursing, the act of bringing the hare round at less than a right angle, worth half a point in the recognised code of points for judging.

Verb

• To violently move in a turn or writhe.
• To pull or twist violently.
• To turn aside or deflect.
• To slander.
• To tighten with or as if with a winch.
• To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting.
• To distort from the original meaning.
• To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion.
• To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away.
• To rack with pain.
• To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist.
• To use the tool known as a wrench.

Related

Similar words

• spanner (UK, Australia)

Origin

• From Middle English wrench, from Old English wrenċ, from Proto-Germanic *wrankiz. Compare German Rank.
• From Middle English wrenchen, from Old English wrenċan, from Proto-Germanic *wrankijaną. Compare German renken.