wrench

Definitions

1. A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug.
2. A surname transferred from the nickname.
3. An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain.
4. A trick or artifice.
   obsolete
5. Deceit; guile; treachery.
   obsolete
6. A turn at an acute angle.
   obsolete
7. A winch or windlass.
   archaic
8. A screw.
   obsolete
9. A distorting change from the original meaning.
10. A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes.
    Canada, Philippines, US
11. An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.
    UK
12. A violent emotional change caused by separation.
13. In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body.
14. means; contrivance
    obsolete
15. 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.

Equivalents

Examples

“With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us.”

“But weighing one thing with another he gave Britain for lost; but resolved to make⟳ his profit of this business of Britain, as a quarrel for war; and that of Naples, as a wrench and mean⟳ for peace”

CEFR level