Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "wringer" []

  • One that wrings, especially a device in which laundry is pressed between rollers to extract water. (noun)
  • Put (someone) through the wringer Slang To subject to a severe trial or ordeal. (idiom)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "wringer" in a sentence
  • "Mulroney through the wringer is the kind of treatment I expected Jean Chretien to get at the Gomery Inquiry, instead of the media adulation he received regarding economics and golf balls."
  • "Doc, I'm seeing the wringer mechanism from one of those old-style clothes washing machines which are popularly referred to as wringer-washers; and, it's in mid-wring of a garment with a French Fleur de Lys pattern."
  • "Being a wringer is a right of passage for 10 year-old boys in Palmer LaRue's town."