Category:Wrench

Wrench, n. Etym: [oe. wrench deceit, as. wrenc deceit, a twisting; Akin to g. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and e. Wring. 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.)

Defn: 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 Wrench, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrenched; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrenching.] Etym: [oe. wrenchen, as. wrencan to deceive, properly, to twist, from Wrenc guile, deceit, a twisting. 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.