Wrest, n. 1. The act of
wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion.
Hooker.
2. Active or moving power. [Obs.]
Spenser.
3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of
music.
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.
4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form
of the buckets is determined.
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.
Wrest (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Wrested; p. pr. & vb. n.
Wresting.] [OE. wresten, AS. wr?stan; akin to
wr?? a twisted band, and wrī?n to twist. See
Writhe.]
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.
Our country's cause,
That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from our
hand.
Addison.
They instantly wrested the government out of the
hands of Hastings.
Macaulay.
2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or
proper use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort.
Wrest once the law to your authority.
Shak.
Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy
poor.
Ex. xxiii. 6.
Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false
interpreting the holy text.
South.
3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.]