The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wrest \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[imac]?n to twist. See Writhe.]
   [1913 Webster]
   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.
      [1913 Webster]

            Our country's cause,
            That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from
            our hand.                             --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

            They instantly wrested the government out of the
            hands of Hastings.                    --Macaulay.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper
      use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort.
      [1913 Webster]

            Wrest once the law to your authority. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. --Ex.
                                                  xxiii. 6.
      [1913 Webster]

            Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false
            interpreting the holy text.           --South.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.]
      [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Wrest \Wrest\, n.
   1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence,
      distortion; perversion. --Hooker.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music.
      [1913 Webster]

            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.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the
      buckets is determined.
      [1913 Webster]

   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.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

wrest
    v 1: 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"

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

114 Moby Thesaurus words for "wrest":
   anamorphism, anamorphosis, arrogate, asymmetry, avulse, badger,
   bend, blackmail, buckle, claim, color, confiscate, confuse,
   contort, contortion, crook, crookedness, crumple, cut out, demand,
   deracinate, detorsion, deviation, dig out, dig up, disentangle,
   disproportion, distort, distortion, draw, draw out, dredge,
   dredge up, elicit, eradicate, evolve, evulse, exact, exaction,
   excavate, excise, exsect, extort, extortion, extract, extricate,
   force from, garble, get out, gnarl, gouge, gouge out, grub up,
   imbalance, irregularity, knot, levy blackmail, lopsidedness, mine,
   miscolor, pervert, pick out, pinch, pluck out, pluck up,
   pry loose from, pull, pull out, pull up, quarry, quirk, rake out,
   remove, rend, rend from, rending, rip, rip from, rip out, ripping,
   root out, root up, screw, shake down, snatch from, spring, squeeze,
   take out, tear from, tear out, tearing, torsion, tortuosity, turn,
   turn awry, twist, unearth, unravel, unsymmetry, uproot, usurp,
   warp, weed out, withdraw, wrench, wrench from, wrenching,
   wrest out, wresting, wring, wring from, wringing, writhe, wry