• (RP, GA) enPR: rĕnch IPA: /ɹɛnt͡ʃ̩̩/

wrench (plural wrenches)

1. A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug. [from 16th c.]
   • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula Chapter 21

     With a wrench, which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us.

2. An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain. [from 16th c.]
3. (obsolete) A trick or artifice. [from 8th c.]
   • c. 1210, MS. Cotton Caligula A IX f.246

     Mon mai longe liues wene; / Ac ofte him liedh the wrench.

4. (obsolete) Deceit; guile; treachery. [from 13th c.]
5. (obsolete) A turn at an acute angle. [from 16th c.]
6. (archaic) A winch or windlass. [from 16th c.]
7. (obsolete) A screw. [from 16th c.]
8. A distorting change from the original meaning. [from 17th c.]
9. (US) A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner. [from 18th c.]
10. (UK) An adjustable spanner used by plumbers.
11. A violent emotional change caused by separation. [from 19th c.]
12. (physics) In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body. [from 19th c.]
13. (obsolete) means; contrivance
14. In coursing, the act of bringing the hare round at less than a right angle, worth half a point in the recognised code of points for judging.

• (tool) spanner (UK, Australia)

• German: Drehbewegung
• Italian: strappo, spinta, strattone, storta, slogatura
• Portuguese: sacalão
• Spanish: tirón

• French: clef à écrous, clef, clé, serre-écrou, clé de serrage
• German: Schraubenschlüssel, Schlüssel
• Italian: chiave, serradadi, chiave inglese, chiave piatta
• Portuguese: chave inglesa
• Russian: га́ечный клю́ч
• Spanish: llave, llave de tuerca, llave inglesa

• German: Abschiedsschmerz; Stich ins Herz
• Italian: strazio, dolore

wrench (wrenches, present participle wrenching; past and past participle wrenched)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To violently move in a turn or writhe. [from 11th c.]
2. (transitive) To pull or twist violently. [from 13th c.]

   With a surge of adrenaline, she wrenched the car door off and pulled out the injured man.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To turn aside or deflect. [from 13th c.]
4. (transitive, obsolete) To slander. [from 14th c.]
5. (transitive, obsolete) To tighten with or as if with a winch. [from 16th c.]
   • 1820, [Walter Scott], chapter V, in The Abbot. [...] In Three Volumes, volume III, Edinburgh: Printed [by James Ballantyne & Co.] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and for Archibald Constable and Company, and John Ballantyne, […], OCLC 963570130 ↗, pages 173–174 ↗:

     [S]end me that hag hither; she shall avouch what it was that she hath given to the wretch Dryfesdale, or the pilniewinks and thumbikins shall wrench it out of her finger-joints.

6. (transitive) To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting. [from 16th c.]

   Be careful not to wrench your ankle walking along those loose stones!

7. (transitive) To distort from the original meaning. [from 16th c.]
8. (transitive, obsolete) To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion. [from 16th c.]
9. (intransitive, fencing, obsolete) To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away. [from 18th c.]
10. (transitive) To rack with pain. [from 18th c.]
11. (transitive) To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist. [from 18th c.]
12. (transitive) To use the tool known as a wrench. [from 19th c.]

    The plumber wrenched the pipes until they came loose.

• French: arracher
• German: drehen
• Italian: torcere, storcere
• Portuguese: arrancar
• Russian: вывёртывать

• German: verrenken
• Italian: slogare
• Portuguese: deslocar, torcer
• Russian: вы́вихнуть

• Russian: вывёртывать