wrench

• (15^th century): wrenche; (15^th century): wrinche; (16^th century): wringe

• enPR: rĕnch IPA^(key): /ɹɛnt͡ʃ̩̩/

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• Rhymes: -ɛntʃ

From Middle English wrench, from Old English wrenċ, from Proto-Germanic *wrankiz (“a turning, twisting”). Compare German Rank (“plot, intrigue”).

wrench (plural wrenches)

A double-sided wrench.

A pipe/adjustable wrench.

1. A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug. [From XVI century.]
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us.

2. An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain. [From XVI century.]
3. (obsolete) A trick or artifice. [From VIII century.]
   • c. 1210, MS. Cotton Caligula A IX f.246

     Mon mai longe liues wene; / Ac ofte him liedh the wrench.

4. (obsolete) Deceit; guile; treachery. [From XIII century.]
5. (obsolete) A turn at an acute angle. [From XVI century.]
6. (archaic) A winch or windlass. [From XVI century.]
7. (obsolete) A screw. [From XVI century.]
8. A distorting change from the original meaning. [From XVII century.]
9. (US) A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner. [From XVIII century.]
10. (Britain) An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.
11. A violent emotional change caused by separation. [From XIX century.]
12. (physics) In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body. [From XIX century.]
13. (obsolete) means; contrivance

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

14. 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.

• (tool): spanner (UK, Australia)

From Middle English wrenchen, from Old English wrenċan, from Proto-Germanic *wrankijaną. Compare German renken.

wrench (third-person singular simple present wrenches, present participle wrenching, simple past and past participle wrenched)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To violently move in a turn or writhe. [From XI century.]
2. (transitive) To pull or twist violently. [From XIII century.]

   With a surge of adrenaline, she wrenched the car door off and pulled out the injured man.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To turn aside or deflect. [From XIII century.]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To slander. [From XIV century.]
5. (transitive, obsolete) To tighten with or as if with a winch. [From XVI century.]
6. (transitive) To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting. [From XVI century.]

   Be careful not to wrench your ankle walking along those loose stones!

7. (transitive) To distort from the original meaning. [From XVI century.]
8. (transitive, obsolete) To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion. [From XVI century.]
9. (intransitive, fencing, obsolete) To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away. [From XVIII century.]
10. (transitive) To rack with pain. [From XVIII century.]
11. (transitive) To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist. [From XVIII century.]
12. (transitive) To use the tool known as a wrench. [From XIX century.]

    The plumber wrenched the pipes until they came loose.

• Wrench on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons