| wrench | |
| 1. s. A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug. | |
| 2. s. An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain. | |
| 3. s. (obsolete) A trick or artifice. | |
| 4. s. (obsolete) Deceit; guile; treachery. | |
| 5. s. (obsolete) A turn at an acute angle. | |
| 6. s. (archaic) A winch or windlass. | |
| 7. s. (obsolete) A screw. | |
| 8. s. A distorting change from the original meaning. | |
| 9. s. (US) A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner. | |
| 10. s. (UK) An adjustable spanner used by plumbers. | |
| 11. s. A violent emotional change caused by separation. | |
| 12. s. (physics) In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body. | |
| 13. s. (obsolete) means; contrivance | |
| 14. s. 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. | |
| 15. v. (intransitive, obsolete) To violently move in a turn or writhe. | |
| 16. v. To pull or twist violently. | |
| With a surge of adrenaline, she wrenched the car door off and pulled out the injured man. | |
| 17. v. (transitive, obsolete) To turn aside or deflect. | |
| 18. v. (transitive, obsolete) To slander. | |
| 19. v. (transitive, obsolete) To tighten with or as if with a winch. | |
| 20. v. To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting. | |
| Be careful not to wrench your ankle walking along those loose stones! | |
| 21. v. To distort from the original meaning. | |
| 22. v. (transitive, obsolete) To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion. | |
| 23. v. (intransitive, fencing, obsolete) To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away. | |
| 24. v. To rack with pain. | |
| 25. v. To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist. | |
| 26. v. To use the tool known as a wrench. | |
| The plumber wrenched the pipes until they came loose. | |
