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Definitions for: Wrest
[v] 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"
Webster (1913) Definition: 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[=i]?n 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.
See Also: seize
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