wrest Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically
    • wrest the knife from his hands
    • wrest a meaning from the old text
    • wrest power from the old government

WordNet

Wrest transitive verb
Etymology
OE. wresten, AS. wrstan; akin to wr a twisted band, and wrin to twist. See Writhe.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Wrested; present participle & verbal noun Wresting
Definitions
  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 noun
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913