WREST

wrest

(verb) obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also metaphorically; “wrest the knife from his hands”; “wrest a meaning from the old text”; “wrest power from the old government”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Verb

wrest (third-person singular simple present wrests, present participle wresting, simple past and past participle wrested)

(transitive) To pull or twist violently.

(transitive) To obtain by pulling or violent force.

(transitive, figuratively) To seize.

(transitive, figuratively) To distort, to pervert, to twist.

(transitive, music) To tune with a wrest, or key.

Noun

wrest (plural wrests)

The act of wresting; a wrench or twist; distortion.

(music) A key to tune a stringed instrument.

(obsolete) Active or motive power.

(obsolete, rare) Short for saw wrest; a saw set.

Etymology 2

Noun

wrest (plural wrests)

A partition in a water wheel by which the form of the buckets is determined.

Etymology 3

Noun

wrest (plural wrests)

(agriculture, dated, dialectal) A metal (formerly wooden) piece of some ploughs attached under the mouldboard (the curved blade that turns over the furrow) for clearing out the furrow; the mouldboard itself.

Anagrams

• Trews, strew, trews, werst

Source: Wiktionary

Wrest, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrested; p. pr. & vb. n. Wresting.] Etym: [OE. wresten, AS. wr; akin to wr a twisted band, and wri to twist. See Writhe.]

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.]

Wrest, n.

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’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition