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vise

VYS/vaɪs/

Pluralvises

Verbvises, vising, vised

UK spellingvice

6 meanings of vise

Practice

  1. 1
    nounUScountable
    A tool with two jaws that you tighten with a screw to hold something still.

    Like a strong hand that squeezes something and won't let go.

    He tightened the vise to hold the metal bar while he filed it.

    A sturdy vise is bolted to the workbench in the garage.

    Similarclamp

    Note
  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To squeeze and hold something tightly between two surfaces.

    Like squeezing something tightly between two heavy books so it can't slip.

    Vise the board tightly before you start cutting.

    She vised the pipe so it wouldn't move while she cut it.

    Similarclamp, grip, squeeze

    Oppositerelease, loosen

    Note
  3. 3
    nounfigurativelycountable
    A tight spot where you have very few choices and feel trapped.

    Like being squeezed between two walls that keep closing in.

    Caught in a financial vise, the family had no good options left.

    The new rules put workers in a vise between safety and pay.

    Similarbind, squeeze, trap, predicament

    Note

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    nounobsolete
    A turning metal pin with a spiral groove, used to fasten things together.
    Note
  2. 5
    nounobsolete
    A set of stairs that curve around in a spiral as they go up.

    Like the inside of a seashell, winding round and round as it goes up.

    They climbed the narrow vise to reach the tower room.

    A stone vise wound up to the castle's upper floors.

    Note
  3. 6
    verbarchaic
    An old spelling of visé, meaning to officially stamp or approve a passport. It is not used today.
    It was the hour in which all who had affairs to arrange with the Austrian ambassador, passports to vise, contracts to sign,were allowed entrance, and it was the baron's duty to receive them.
    1867, Luise Mühlbach, Frederick the Great and His FamilyHere, vise means officially stamp or approve a passport.
    At Manchouli, it was said, ViceConsul Ishida and Chancellor Teng requested the local Soviet Consulate to vise their passports, but the Soviet consulate authorities unreasonably declined to comply with the request.
    1938, Manchuria: Semi-monthly Publication of the Manchuria Daily News
    Note

Practice

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Origin

This word came into English from an old French word meaning "screw," which itself came from a Latin word meaning "vine."