Meaning of Spanner | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A hand tool for adjusting nuts and bolts.
   Commonwealth, Ireland, UK
2. Any of certain types of such a tool that have a pin or hook to engage the driven object.
   Canada, Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, US
3. One who, or that which, spans.
   rare
4. A (usually sparse) graph whose shortest path distances approximate those in a dense graph or other metric space.
5. A hand tool shaped like a small crank handle, for winding the spring of a wheel lock on a musket.
6. A device in early steam engines for moving the valves for the alternate admission and shutting off of the steam.
   obsolete
7. A problem, dilemma or obstacle; something unexpected or troublesome (in the phrase spanner in the works)
   Ireland, UK
8. A stupid or unintelligent person; one prone to making mistakes, especially in language.
   Ireland, UK, derogatory, mildly

Equivalents

Examples

“Pass me that spanner, Jake; there's just one more bolt to screw in.”

“Tools don’t have judgment or ethics, and they might fail to push back on bad ideas or dangerous requests. “Your spanner’s never like, ‘This shouldn’t be built,’” she said, using a British term for wrench.”

“The groove in this toolholder is what the spanner grabs onto when you are changing the tool.”

“The scheme of the spanner of continents and the desire of the little husbandman hoarding for his loved ones...”

“The spanner for spanning or winding up the spring of the wheel lock.”

“Halfway through the production of Macbeth, the director found that the stage was smaller than he expected. This really threw a spanner in the works.”

“You spanner, Rodney! I wanted some time, not a bunch of thyme!”

CEFR level