Wrench (?), n. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. . See Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.]
1. Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [Obs.]
His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee.
Chaucer.
2. A violent twist, or a pull with twisting.
He wringeth them such a wrench.
Skelton.
The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere.
De Quincey.
3. A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.
4. Means; contrivance. [Obs.]
Bacon.
5. An instrument, often a simple bar or lever with jaws or an angular orifice either at the end or between the ends, for exerting a twisting strain, as in turning bolts, nuts, screw taps, etc.; a screw key. Many wrenches have adjustable jaws for grasping nuts, etc., of different sizes.
6. Mech. The system made up of a force and a couple of forces in a plane perpendicular to that force. Any number of forces acting at any points upon a rigid body may be compounded so as to be equivalent to a wrench.
Carriage wrench, a wrench adapted for removing or tightening the nuts that confine the wheels on the axles, or for turning the other nuts or bolts of a carriage or wagon. -- Monkey wrench. See under Monkey. -- Wrench hammer, a wrench with the end shaped so as to admit of being used as a hammer.
© Webster 1913.
Wrench, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrenched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Wrenching.] [OE. wrenchen, AS. wrencan to deceive, properly, to twist, from wrenc guile, deceit, a twisting. . See Wrench, n.]
1. To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence.
Wrench his sword from him.
Shak.
Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woeful agony.
Coleridge.
2. To strain; to sprain; hence, to distort; to pervert.
You wrenched your foot against a stone.
Swift.
© Webster 1913. | 
