wrench
Definitions
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Doctors Left a Monkey Wrench in Him 025 -
WordNet 3.6
- v wrench twist suddenly so as to sprain "wrench one's ankle","The wrestler twisted his shoulder","the hikers sprained their ankles when they fell","I turned my ankle and couldn't walk for several days"
- v wrench twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish "Wring one's hand"
- v wrench twist or pull violently or suddenly, especially so as to remove (something) from that to which it is attached or from where it originates "wrench a window off its hinges","wrench oneself free from somebody's grip","a deep sigh was wrenched from his chest"
- v wrench make a sudden twisting motion
- n wrench a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt
- n wrench a jerky pulling movement
- n wrench a sharp strain on muscles or ligaments "the wrench to his knee occurred as he fell","he was sidelined with a hamstring pull"
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Additional illustrations & photos:
Miss Plank told me in confidence that it would be a big wrench if he left
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Interesting fact: The household wrench was invented by boxing heavyweight champion Jack Johnson in 1922
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- Wrench A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.
- Wrench A violent twist, or a pull with twisting. "He wringeth them such a wrench .""The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere."
- Wrench 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.
- Wrench Means; contrivance.
- Wrench (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.
- Wrench To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence. "Wrench his sword from him.""Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woeful agony."
- Wrench To strain; to sprain; hence, to distort; to pervert. "You wrenched your foot against a stone."
- Wrench Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. "His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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Interesting fact: The monkey wrench is named after its inventor, a London blacksmith named Charles Moncke.
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- n wrench A hose-coupling wrench or spanner. The hose-coupling union may have pins or tits on its exterior face, fitting a hole in the end of the curved bar or spanner; or the unions may have radial holes into which a tit on the end of the spanner may enter.
- n wrench A crooked or tortuous action; a fraudulent device; a trick; a deceit; a stratagem.
- n wrench A violent twist or turn given to something; a pulling awry: a sudden twisting out of shape, place, or relation: used of both material and immaterial things: as, to sprain one's foot by a wrench; the change was a great wrench to his feelings.
- n wrench A sharp turn; specifically, in coursing, the turning of a hare at less than a right angle.
- n wrench In mathematical physics, a force, or variation of force, tending to give a body a twist about an imaginary or real screw.
- n wrench A tool consisting essentially of a bar of metal having jaws at one end adapted to catch upon the head of a bolt or a nut, or to hold a metal pipe or rod, so as to turn it. Some wrenches have a variety of jaws to suit different sizes and shapes of nuts and bolts, and others, as the monkey-wrench, have an adjustable inner jaw.
- n wrench Means of compulsion.
- wrench To twist or turn about with effort or violence; give a sudden twist to; hence, to distort; pervert; turn awry.
- wrench To injure or pain by a twisting action; produce a distorting effect in or upon; distort; sprain: as, to wrench one's ankle.
- wrench To pull or draw with torsion; extract by twisting or tortuous action; hence, to wrest forcibly or violently.
- wrench To have or undergo a wrenching motion; turn twistingly.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- v.t Wrench rensh to wring or pull with a twist: to force by violence: to sprain
- v.i Wrench to undergo a violent wrenching
- n Wrench a violent twist: a sprain: an instrument for turning bolts, &c.: in coursing, bringing the hare round at less than a right angle—half a point in the recognised code of points for judging
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Quotations
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“A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop.” -
“Weep not for little Leonie, abducted by a French Marquis. Though loss of honor was a wrench, just think how it's improved her French.”
Idioms
Throw a monkey wrench into the works - (USA) If you throw a monkey wrench into the works, you ensure that something fails.
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Wrench in the works - (USA) If someone puts or throws a wrench, or monkey wrench, in the works, they ruin a plan. In British English, 'spanner' is used instead of 'wrench'.
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Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
OE. wrench, deceit, AS. wrenc, deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank, intrigue, crookedness, renken, to bend, twist, and E. wring,. √144. See Wring, and cf. Ranch (v. t.)
Usage
In literature:
Just then the Irish renegade captain burst into a hearty laugh, and I wrenched myself round to look, and felt better.
"Charge!" by George Manville Fenn
If I did, I should say my shoulder was wrenched with the jerk.
"Steve Young" by George Manville Fenn
Gilmore gave his neck a peculiar writhe, and his jaws a wrench.
"The Weathercock" by George Manville Fenn
One of the large settees was wrenched loose and lifted over the stern of the steamer.
"Adrift in the Wilds" by Edward S. Ellis
A wrench followed; a yell was the result, and the pincers slipped!
"The Lighthouse" by R.M. Ballantyne
Zeppa was endeavouring at the moment to wrench off the lock and was nearly thrown back.
"The Madman and the Pirate" by R.M. Ballantyne
As Randy turned toward his companions Batters sprang at him and wrenched the weapon from his hands.
"Canoe Boys and Campfires" by William Murray Graydon
Plug dodged, caught hold of the chair, and wrenched it from Flemming's grasp.
"Frank Merriwell's Races" by Burt L. Standish
She saw him wrench the envelope from her hands as she resisted.
"The Lion's Mouse" by C. N. Williamson and A. M. Williamson
The club was wrenched from Bullhammer's hand.
"The Trail of '98" by Robert W. Service
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In poetry:
But fearful are my Mystae when,
To Bacchanalian hymn,
They wrench the brute from the souls of men
And tear it limb from limb:
To Bacchanalian hymn,
They wrench the brute from the souls of men
And tear it limb from limb:
"Bacchus [Excerpt]" by Bernard O Dowd
Without one sign of warning giv'n,
To tell of danger lurking near,
With sudden wrench the chain was riv'n,
Which kept thy pilgrim footsteps here.
To tell of danger lurking near,
With sudden wrench the chain was riv'n,
Which kept thy pilgrim footsteps here.
"On the Death of Major Whitefoord, December 15th 1825" by Eliza Acton
No wrench for a man near ninety.
They were younger who crowded us out of distinction the year
you drove them
Like flies on a fire. We don't say it was wrong.
They were younger who crowded us out of distinction the year
you drove them
Like flies on a fire. We don't say it was wrong.
"The Dead To Clemenceau:" by Robinson Jeffers
They struck the lips that they might have kissed,
Pitiless they to her pain and fear,
And wrenched the gold from her broken wrist,
No use to cry; there were none to hear.
Pitiless they to her pain and fear,
And wrenched the gold from her broken wrist,
No use to cry; there were none to hear.
"Feroza" by Laurence Hope
And ye who mourn your dead,--how sternly true
The crushing hour that wrenched their lives away,
Shadowed with sorrow's midnight veil for you,
For them the dawning of immortal day!
The crushing hour that wrenched their lives away,
Shadowed with sorrow's midnight veil for you,
For them the dawning of immortal day!
"For The Commemoration Services" by Oliver Wendell Holmes
And when these fell, some paces past the wall,
There rose yet others, but they wearied more,
And tasted not so sweet; they did not fall
So soon, but vaguely wrenched his strained heart sore
There rose yet others, but they wearied more,
And tasted not so sweet; they did not fall
So soon, but vaguely wrenched his strained heart sore
"King Arthur's Tomb" by William Morris
In news:
When Alex Libby was 12, almost every morning bus ride was a gut-wrenching ordeal.
Former township zoning inspector Shane Wrench was named properties manager for The Federated Church.
Wrench, a South Russell resident, recently resigned his position as zoning inspector.
An Edinburg family saw Miracle's heart wrenching story on Action 4 News on Monday and decided to donate $80.00 dollars towards the animals care.
Any Role in Death Is ' gut -wrenching' (video).
The stories are heart wrenching.
Inheritance is an extraordinary, gut-wrenching account of the continuing effects of Nazi horrors on human souls.
Hurricane Sandy Blows a Wrench Into the Presidential Campaign.
But for some reason, the alleged wannabe killer threw a wrench into his own plans, according to TMZ, citing a local news report in New Mexico .
The video is heart wrenching, but I have questions and so should the school district.
This month marks the five-year anniversary of the beginning of the Great Recession and the subsequent gut-wrenching stock market plunge.
1 soft backing pad 1 pad wrench.
With a few lightning-fast turns of his wrench, 47-year city employee P.J.
In what coach Kevin Schroeder called "gut-wrenching" time, junior Abby Hickerson missed three returns in a row during doubles play against Shelbyville on Tuesday.
Glow plug wrenches have been around longer than I have, and they all do a great job.
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In science:
Figure 48.(d) shows a contour plot of an X-ray image of a wrench taken with an elevated 55Fe source that illuminated the entire detector with the wrench blocking part of the detector.
Calorimetry for Lepton Collider Experiments - CALICE results and activities
Although it is not quite clear due to the coarse readout pad size of 1 × 1 cm2 , one can roughly make out the shape of the wrench.
Calorimetry for Lepton Collider Experiments - CALICE results and activities
Using an approach similar to Ruspini, and Khatib , we express the contact problem in an LCP form, which is solved for f - the contact wrench.
Passive Control Architecture for Virtual Humans
Henceforth we shall briefly say slider a wrench with the slider property and note it as lr .
On Foundations of Newtonian Mechanics
The existence of the internet, the World Wide Web, and now Wikipedia, throws a wrench into the systems of philosophers.
A Wikipedia Literature Review
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