monkey wrench

Noun

WordNet 3.0

Noun (1)

adjustable wrench that has one fixed and one adjustable jawSynonyms: monkey-wrench monkey wrench

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

monkeywrench \monkeywrench\, monkey wrench \monkey wrench\n. A wrench or spanner which has one fixed and one adjustable jaw.

Syn: monkey wrench. [WordNet 1.5]

Wrench \Wrench\ (r[e^]nch), n. [OE. wrench deceit, AS. wrenc deceit, a twisting; akin to G. rank intrigue, crookedness, renken to bend, twist, and E. wring. [root]144. See Wring, and cf. Ranch, v. t.] [1913 Webster]

1.Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee.— Chaucer.[1913 Webster]

2.A violent twist, or a pull with twisting. [1913 Webster]

He wringeth them such a wrench.— Skelton.[1913 Webster]

The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere.— De Quincey.[1913 Webster]

3.A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint. [1913 Webster]

4.Means; contrivance. [Obs.] --Bacon. [1913 Webster]

5.An instrument, often a simple bar or lever with jaws or an angular orifice either at the end or between the ends, for exerting a twisting strain, as in turning bolts, nuts, screw taps, etc.; a screw key. Many wrenches have adjustable jaws for grasping nuts, etc., of different sizes. [1913 Webster]

6.(Mech.) The system made up of a force and a couple of forces in a plane perpendicular to that force. Any number of forces acting at any points upon a rigid body may be compounded so as to be equivalent to a wrench. [1913 Webster]

Carriage wrench, a wrench adapted for removing or tightening the nuts that confine the wheels on the axles, or for turning the other nuts or bolts of a carriage or wagon.

Monkey wrench. See under Monkey.

Wrench hammer, a wrench with the end shaped so as to admit of being used as a hammer. [1913 Webster]