Wrench /(rĕnch)/

Wrench

n.
  1. Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [Obs.]
    His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee.
  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.
  3. A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.
  4. Means; contrivance. [Obs.]
  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. 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. (Mech.)

Phrases & Compounds
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.

Wrench

v. t.

imp. & p. p. Wrenched; p. pr. & vb. n. Wrenching

  1. To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence.
    Wrench his sword from him.
    Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woeful agony.
  2. To strain; to sprain; hence, to distort; to pervert.
    You wrenched your foot against a stone.