wrench

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

wrench, n. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.].

•  Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem.  [1913 Webster]

  "His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee."  [1913 Webster]
•  A violent twist, or a pull with twisting.  [1913 Webster]

  "He wringeth them such a wrench."  [1913 Webster]

  "The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere."  [1913 Webster]
•  A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.  [1913 Webster]
•  Means; contrivance.  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

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, v. t. [OE. wrenchen, AS. wrencan to deceive, properly, to twist, from wrenc guile, deceit, a twisting. . See Wrench, n.].

•  To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence.  [1913 Webster]

  "Wrench his sword from him."  [1913 Webster]

  "Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
  With a woeful agony."  [1913 Webster]
•  To strain; to sprain; hence, to distort; to pervert.  [1913 Webster]

  "You wrenched your foot against a stone."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wrench, 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

THESAURUS

wrench

Allen wrench, Stillson wrench, abrade, abrasion, ache, aching, acute pain, adjustable wrench, alligator wrench, anamorphism, anamorphosis, asymmetry, badger, bark, belie, bend, bite, blackmail, blemish, bloody, blow, bob, boring pain, box wrench, break, buckle, burlesque, burn, camouflage, caricature, carriage wrench, chafe, chain wrench, charley horse, check, chip, claim, claw, coerce, color, compel, concussion, confuse, constrain, contort, contortion, crack, crackle, cramp, cramps, craze, crick, crook, crookedness, crumple, cut, darting pain, demand, detorsion, deviation, disguise, disproportion, distort, distortion, distress, dolor, drag, exact, exaction, exaggerate, extort, extortion, falsify, flash burn, flick, flip, flirt, flounce, force, force from, fracture, fray, frazzle, fret, fulgurant pain, gall, garble, gash, get one wrong, get wrong, girdle pain, gloss, gnarl, gnawing, gouge, grief, griping, hitch, hurt, imbalance, incise, incision, injure, injury, irregularity, jerk, jig, jigger, jigget, jiggle, jog, joggle, jumping pain, kink, knot, lacerate, laceration, lancinating pain, lesion, levy blackmail, lopsidedness, lug wrench, maim, make mincemeat of, maul, misapply, misapprehend, miscite, miscolor, misconceive, misconstrue, misdeem, misexplain, misexplicate, misexpound, misinterpret, misjudge, misquote, misread, misrender, misreport, misrepresent, misstate, mistake, misteach, mistranslate, misunderstand, monkey wrench, mortal wound, mutilate, mutilation, nasty blow, nip, overdraw, overstate, pain, pang, parody, paroxysm, passion, pervert, pierce, pinch, pipe wrench, pluck, prick, pry loose from, puncture, quirk, rend, rend from, rending, rent, rick, rip, rip from, ripping, run, rupture, savage, scald, scorch, scotch, scrape, scratch, screw, screw key, scuff, second-degree burn, seizure, shake down, sharp pain, shock, shoot, shooting, shooting pain, skin, slant, slash, slit, snake, snatch, snatch from, socket wrench, sore, sore spot, spanner, spark-plug wrench, spasm, sprain, spring, squeeze, stab, stab wound, stabbing pain, start, stick, stitch, strain, strain the sense, stress, stress of life, stroke, sudden pull, suffering, tap wrench, tappet wrench, tear, tear from, tearing, tender spot, third-degree burn, thrill, throes, tormen, torsion, tortuosity, torture, trauma, traumatize, travesty, turn, turn awry, tweak, twinge, twist, twist the words, twitch, understate, unsymmetry, warp, wound, wounds immedicable, wrench from, wrenching, wrest, wresting, wring, wring from, wringing, writhe, wry, yank, yerk

ROGET THESAURUS

wrench

Disjunction

VB be disjoined, come off, fall off, come to pieces, fall to pieces, peel off, get loose, disjoin, disconnect, disengage, disunite, dissociate, dispair, divorce, part, dispart, detach, separate, cut off, rescind, segregate, set apart, keep apart, insulate, isolate, throw out of gear, cut adrift, loose, unloose, undo, unbind, unchain, unlock, unpack, unravel, disentangle, set free, sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind, circumcise, cut, incide, incise, saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst, rend, rend asunder, rend in twain, wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch, crunch, craunch, chop, cut up, rip up, hack, hew, slash, whittle, haggle, hackle, discind, lacerate, scamble, mangle, gash, hash, slice, cut up, carve, dissect, anatomize, dislimb, take to pieces, pull to pieces, pick to pieces, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, tear piecemeal, tear limb from limb, divellicate, skin, disintegrate, dismember, disbranch, disband, disperse, dislocate, disjoint, break up, mince, comminute, apportion, part, part company, separate, leave.

Taking

N taking, reception, deglutition, appropriation, prehension, prensation, capture, caption, apprehension, deprehension, abreption, seizure, expropriation, abduction, ablation, subtraction, withdrawal, abstraction, ademption, adrolepsy, dispossession, deprivation, deprivement, bereavement, divestment, disherison, distraint, distress, sequestration, confiscation, eviction, rapacity, rapaciousness, extortion, vampirism, theft, resumption, reprise, reprisal, recovery, clutch, swoop, wrench, grip, haul, take, catch, scramble, taker, captor, subduction, taking, privative, prehensile, predaceous, predal, predatory, predatorial, lupine, rapacious, raptorial, ravenous, parasitic, bereft, at one fell swoop, give an inch and take an ell.

Traction

VB draw, pull, haul, lug, rake, drag, tug, tow, trail, train, take in tow, wrench, jerk, twitch, touse, yank.

Extraction

N extraction, extracting, removal, elimination, extrication, eradication, evolution, evulsion, avulsion, wrench, expression, squeezing, extirpation, extermination, ejection, export, extractor, corkscrew, forceps, pliers, extracted.

VB extract, draw, take out, draw out, pull out, tear out, pluck out, pick out, get out, wring from, wrench, extort, root up, weed up, grub up, rake up, root out, weed out, grub out, rake out, eradicate, pull up by the roots, pluck up by the roots, averruncate, unroot, uproot, pull up, extirpate, dredge, remove, educe, elicit, evolve, extricate, eliminate, eviscerate, express, squeeze out, press out.

Circuition

N circuition, circulation, turn, curvet, excursion, circumvention, circumnavigation, circumambulation, northwest passage, circuit, turning, wrench, evolution, coil, corkscrew, turning, circuitous, circumforaneous, circumfluent, round about.