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Monkey wrench   /mˈəŋki rɛntʃ/   Listen
noun
monkey wrench, monkeywrench  n.  A wrench or spanner which has one fixed and one adjustable jaw.
Synonyms: monkey wrench.



Wrench  n.  
1.
Trick; deceit; fraud; stratagem. (Obs.) "His wily wrenches thou ne mayst not flee."
2.
A violent twist, or a pull with twisting. "He wringeth them such a wrench." "The injurious effect upon biographic literature of all such wrenches to the truth, is diffused everywhere."
3.
A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint.
4.
Means; contrivance. (Obs.)
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.
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.
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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Monkey wrench" Quotes from Famous Books



... remote time, when a hawse was a hawse, and you couldn't have it put all over you by a lot of slick young smarties that could do a few things with a monkey wrench. Starling, when he thus discoursed, sat chiefly in the little office before the rusty stove, idly flicking his memory with a buggy whip from the rack above his head, where reposed a dozen choice whips soon to become ...
— The Wrong Twin • Harry Leon Wilson

... pocket, drew forth his keys and opened it. The box was his fireproof and ratproof safe in which the old man kept his valuables. His money, his trinkets, his hammer and nails, augur and bits, screwdriver and monkeywrench. From the top shelf he drew a tin can. A heavy piece of linen tied with a string ...
— The Man in Gray • Thomas Dixon



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