See Also: wrench(1)(dictionary)
box end wrench(dictionary)
wrench(encyclopedia)
wrench(2)(dictionary)
wrench(medicine)
wrench 1, verb(dictionary)
monkey wrench(dictionary)
Allen wrench(dictionary)
wrench 2, noun(dictionary)
Gut Wrench - Wrestling(gambling)

wrench(2) (iou)



wrench verb.

verb intrans. Make a sudden or violent turning or twisting motion. Now rare. LOE.
J. Reed We hurtled furiously on, wrenched right and left to avoid collisions.
verb trans. Twist or pull violently round or sideways. ME.
R. C. Hutchinson Without braking he wrenched his car round the corner. P. Lively Time, like the city, is blown apart, wrenched into a shattered parody of itself.
b. Tighten (as) with a wrench. L16.
fig.: Shakespeare Coriolanus For thy revenge Wrench up thy power to th'highest.
verb trans. Injure (a limb etc.) by undue twisting or stretching; sprain, strain. M16.
J. Aiken Each step..wrenched my injured joints.
b. fig. Cause pain to; distress greatly. L18.
J. M. Coetzee His confusion and distress..wrenched my heartstrings.
verb trans. Misinterpret (a passage) or distort (facts) to suit a theory etc. M16.
A. Winchell It is..better to learn how God really did proceed, than to..wrench our Bible to make it fit a misconception.
verb trans. Pull, draw, or detach with a wrench or twist; transf. take forcibly. Freq. foll. by from, away, off, etc. L16.
H. Martineau Those from whose hands he had wrenched the means of subsistence. J. Osborne He makes a great effort to wrench himself free, but Cliff hangs on. S. Middleton He..began to unlace his shoes, then wrench his tie loose.
Coursing.
a. verb intrans. Of a hare etc.: veer or come round at less than a right angle. L16.
b. verb trans. Divert or bring round (a hare etc.) at less than a right angle. E17.
verb intrans. Pull at a thing with a wrench or twist. Usu. foll. by at. L17.
G. Greene M. Morin drove with clumsy violence, wrenching at his gears.
wrencher noun (a) rare an instrument for wringing or tightening; (b) a person who or thing which wrenches or twists something: L15.
wrenching verbal noun the action of the verb; an instance of this: LME.