'Wrest' definitions:
Definition of 'wrest'
(from WordNet)
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"
Definition of 'Wrest'
From: GCIDE
- Wrest \Wrest\, n.
- 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. --Hooker. [1913 Webster]
- 2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
- 3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- 4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the buckets is determined. [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Wrest'
From: GCIDE
- Wrest \Wrest\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Wrested; p. pr. & vb. n. Wresting.] [OE. wresten, AS. wr?stan; akin to wr?? a twisted band, and wr[imac]?n to twist. See Writhe.] [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]
- Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our hand. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
- They instantly wrested the government out of the hands of Hastings. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
- 2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort. [1913 Webster]
- Wrest once the law to your authority. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. --Ex. xxiii. 6. [1913 Webster]
- Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false interpreting the holy text. --South. [1913 Webster]
- 3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
Synonyms of 'wrest'
From: Moby Thesaurus
- anamorphism,
- anamorphosis,
- arrogate,
- asymmetry,
- avulse,
- badger,
- bend,
- blackmail,
- buckle,
- claim,
- color,
- confiscate,
- confuse,
- contort,
- contortion,
- crook,
- crookedness,
- crumple,
- cut out,
- demand,
- deracinate,
- detorsion,
- deviation,
- dig out,
- dig up,
- disentangle,
- disproportion,
- distort,
- distortion,
- draw,
- draw out,
- dredge,
- dredge up,
- elicit,
- eradicate,
- evolve,
- evulse,
- exact,
- exaction,
- excavate,
- excise,
- exsect,
- extort,
- extortion,
- extract,
- extricate,
- force from,
- garble,
- get out,
- gnarl,
- gouge,
- gouge out,
- grub up,
- imbalance,
- irregularity,
- knot,
- levy blackmail,
- lopsidedness,
- mine,
- miscolor,
- pervert,
- pick out,
- pinch,
- pluck out,
- pluck up,
- pry loose from,
- pull,
- pull out,
- pull up,
- quarry,
- quirk,
- rake out,
- remove,
- rend,
- rend from,
- rending,
- rip,
- rip from,
- rip out,
- ripping,
- root out,
- root up,
- screw,
- shake down,
- snatch from,
- spring,
- squeeze,
- take out,
- tear from,
- tear out,
- tearing,
- torsion,
- tortuosity,
- turn,
- turn awry,
- twist,
- unearth,
- unravel,
- unsymmetry,
- uproot,
- usurp,
- warp,
- weed out,
- withdraw,
- wrench,
- wrench from,
- wrenching,
- wrest out,
- wresting,
- wring,
- wring from,
- wringing,
- writhe,
- wry