VividLex

Home / Dictionary / wrest

wrest

10 senses · Free VividLex dictionary · Thesaurus

  1. 1. v. t. To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence; to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or twisting. Source: opted
  2. 2. v. t. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. Source: opted
  3. 3. v. t. To tune with a wrest, or key. Source: opted
  4. 4. n. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. Source: opted
  5. 5. n. Active or moving power. Source: opted
  6. 6. n. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. Source: opted
  7. 7. n. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. Source: opted
  8. 8. v. obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically Source: wordnet
  9. 9. 1. To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence; to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or twisting. "The secret wrested from me." Milton. Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand. Addison. They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings. Macaulay. 2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. Wrest once the law to your authority. Shak. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. Ex. xxiii. 6. Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text. South. 3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.] 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. Hooker. 2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] Spenser. 3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which he tuned his harp. Sir W. Scott. 4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. Wrest pin (Piano Manuf.), one of the pins around which the ends of the wires are wound in a piano. Knight. -- Wrest plank (Piano Manuf.), the part in which the wrest pins are inserted. Source: webster
  10. 10. v:100 v. obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically Source: ecdict

Thesaurus links

Related headwords in VividLex — dictionary ↔ thesaurus bridge for exploration and SEO depth.

From the definitions

Open full thesaurus page for wrest · Language as a Lens

Explore more

Search dictionary Related words Home
wrens
wrested