Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Wrench?

\Wrench\ (r[e^]nch), n. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. [root]144. See {Wring}, and cf. {Ranch}, v. 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\, v. 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. ????. See {Wrench}, n.] 1. To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence. Wrench his sword from him. --Shak. 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.