wrest

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

wrest, v. t. [OE. wresten, AS. wrstan; akin to wr a twisted band, and wrīn to twist. See Writhe.].

•  To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence; to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or twisting.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

  "Our country's cause,
  That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand."  [1913 Webster]

  "They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings."  [1913 Webster]
•  To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort.  [1913 Webster]

  "Wrest once the law to your authority."  [1913 Webster]

  "Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor."  [1913 Webster]

  "Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text."  [1913 Webster]
•  To tune with a wrest, or key.  [1913 Webster]

wrest, n. 

•  The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion.  Hooker.  [1913 Webster]
•  Active or moving power.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  A key to tune a stringed instrument of music.  [1913 Webster]

  "The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which he tuned his harp."  [1913 Webster]
•  A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined.  [1913 Webster]

Wrest pin (Piano Manuf.), one of the pins around which the ends of the wires are wound in a piano. Knight. -- Wrest plank (Piano Manuf.), the part in which the wrest pins are inserted.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

wrest, v. & n.
--v.tr.
1 force or wrench away from a person's grasp.
2 (foll. by from) obtain by effort or with difficulty.
3 distort into accordance with one's interests or views (wrest the law to suit themselves).
--n. archaic a key for tuning a harp or piano etc.

Idiom

wrest-block (or -plank) the part of a piano or harpsichord holding the wrest-pins. wrest-pin each of the pins to which the strings of a piano or harpsichord are attached.

Etymology

OE wr{aelig}stan f. Gmc, rel. to WRIST

THESAURUS

wrest

anamorphism, anamorphosis, arrogate, asymmetry, avulse, badger, bend, blackmail, buckle, claim, color, confiscate, confuse, contort, contortion, crook, crookedness, crumple, cut out, demand, deracinate, detorsion, deviation, dig out, dig up, disentangle, disproportion, distort, distortion, draw, draw out, dredge, dredge up, elicit, eradicate, evolve, evulse, exact, exaction, excavate, excise, exsect, extort, extortion, extract, extricate, force from, garble, get out, gnarl, gouge, gouge out, grub up, imbalance, irregularity, knot, levy blackmail, lopsidedness, mine, miscolor, pervert, pick out, pinch, pluck out, pluck up, pry loose from, pull, pull out, pull up, quarry, quirk, rake out, remove, rend, rend from, rending, rip, rip from, rip out, ripping, root out, root up, screw, shake down, snatch from, spring, squeeze, take out, tear from, tear out, tearing, torsion, tortuosity, turn, turn awry, twist, unearth, unravel, unsymmetry, uproot, usurp, warp, weed out, withdraw, wrench, wrench from, wrenching, wrest out, wresting, wring, wring from, wringing, writhe, wry

ROGET THESAURUS

wrest

Distortion

VB distort, contort, twist, warp, wrest, writhe, make faces, deform, misshape.