DICT.TW Dictionary Taiwan

 Wrench n.
 1. Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem.  [Obs.]
    His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee.   --Chaucer.
 2. A violent twist, or a pull with twisting.
    He wringeth them such a wrench.   --Skelton.
    The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere.   --De Quincey.
 3. A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.
 4. Means; contrivance.  [Obs.]
 5. 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.
 6. Mech. 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.
 Carriage wrench, a wrench adapted for removing or tightening the nuts that confine the wheels on the axles, or for turning the other nuts or bolts of a carriage or wagon.
 Monkey wrench. See under Monkey.
 Wrench hammer, a wrench with the end shaped so as to admit of being used as a hammer.