wrench Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a sharp strain on muscles or ligaments
    twist; pull.
    • the wrench to his knee occurred as he fell
    • he was sidelined with a hamstring pull
  2. noun a jerky pulling movement
    twist.
  3. noun a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt
    spanner.
  4. verb twist or pull violently or suddenly, especially so as to remove (something) from that to which it is attached or from where it originates
    twist.
    • wrench a window off its hinges
    • wrench oneself free from somebody's grip
    • a deep sigh was wrenched from his chest
  5. verb make a sudden twisting motion
  6. verb twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish
    wring.
    • Wring one's hand
  7. verb twist suddenly so as to sprain
    twist; turn; rick; wrick; 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

WordNet

Wrench noun
Etymology
OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. . See Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.
Definitions
  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.
Wrench transitive verb
Etymology
OE. wrenchen, AS. wrencan to deceive, properly, to twist, from wrenc guile, deceit, a twisting. . See Wrench, n.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Wrenched ; present participle & verbal noun Wrenching
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913