wrenches

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of wrench.

   The toolbox rattled with loose wrenches as he carried it up the stairs.

   Adjustable wrenches let a single tool grip bolts of many sizes.

   Note

   The -es ending follows the hiss of the final -ch, as in benches and churches, and the same spelling serves the present-tense verb. As a plural, the word counts sudden twists and the sprains they cause, as in several painful wrenches to the knee. Older English also used wrenches for tricks or stratagems and for winches. Those senses are now obsolete or archaic, so avoid them outside period writing.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of wrench.

   The strongman wrenches the iron bar into a curve before the crowd.

   A sudden gust wrenches the umbrella from her grip.

   Note

   A verb form that always takes an object: something wrenches something else, such as a bar, a handle or a wrist. Beyond brute twisting, it reaches into injury (she wrenches her ankle), distress (the news wrenches him) and distortion, when a speaker wrenches words from their meaning. Paired with from, it signals taking by force.

   He wrenches the gun from the intruder's hand.

   The critic wrenches the line from its context to make it sound cruel.

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