Definition of wrench

• v. t. - Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem.
• v. t. - A violent twist, or a pull with twisting.
• v. t. - A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.
• v. t. - Means; contrivance.
• v. t. - 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.
• v. t. - 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.
• n. - To pull with a twist; to wrest, twist, or force by violence.
• n. - To strain; to sprain; hence, to distort; to pervert.