Other forms: wrenches
A wrench is the metal tool that grips and turns nuts and bolts. The adjustable sort has a jaw you widen with a screw.
American English says wrench where British English says spanner, and the adjustable one is a monkey wrench in America. The verb means to twist something violently, so wrenching a door open or wrenching your knee are both about force. There is a fine emotional sense, since leaving somewhere can be a wrench, meaning a painful separation, and that use is very British.
1nounwrenchA tool for gripping and turning nuts and bolts.
“Pass me the wrench from the toolbox.”
2nounpainfulA painful separation.
“Leaving the old house was a real wrench.”
3verbtwistTo pull or twist something suddenly and violently.
“She wrenched the door open and ran out into the rain.”
Also accepted in games: spanner
Proto-Indo-European
*wreng- — to turn
Proto-Germanic
*wrankiz
Old English
wrenċ
Middle English
wrench
English, today
wrench
From Middle English wrench, from Old English wrenċ, from Proto-Germanic wrankiz, from Proto-Indo-European wreng- (“to turn”). Compare German Rank (“plot, intrigue”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Around the House, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 2 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word