Definition of "wrench" []

• A sudden sharp, forcible twist or turn. (noun)
• An injury produced by twisting or straining. (noun)
• A sudden tug at one's emotions; a surge of compassion, sorrow, or anguish. (noun)
• A break or parting that causes emotional distress. (noun)
• The pain so associated: felt a wrench when he was parted from his children. (noun)

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.

• "The tweaks are fun to fool around with for anyone who knows a wrench from a wildebeest, and not all that expensive."
• "He shouldered a pick and shovel, took a hammer and a pipe-wrench from the tool-house, and returned to"
• "And so it proved under the examination of the nearest practitioner, and then Derrick remembered a certain wrench and shock he had felt in Lowrie's last desperate efforts to recover himself."