Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Wrest?

\Wrest\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wrested}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Wresting}.] [OE. wresten, AS. wr?stan; akin to wr?? a twisted band, and wr[=i]?n to twist. See {Writhe}.] 1. 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. ``The secret wrested from me.'' --Milton. Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand. --Addison. They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings. --Macaulay. 2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. Wrest once the law to your authority. --Shak. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. --Ex. xxiii. 6. Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text. --South. 3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.]
\Wrest\, n. 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. --Hooker. 2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] --Spenser. 3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which he tuned his harp. --Sir W. Scott. 4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. {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.