wrest

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English wresten, also wrasten,^[2][3] inherited from Old English wrǣstan (“to turn, twist”),^[4][5][6][7] and its northern forms such as wraist are borrowed from Old Norse *wreista,^[4][6] recorded as reista (“to bend, twist”).^[4][8][3] The Germanic form is Proto-Germanic *wraistijaną, in Wiktionary's spelling,^[1] *wraistjan in the OED, Hoad and Etymonline.^[4][6][8] Compare Danish vriste.^[4][3][9] It is related to wrist,^{[4][6][10][8]} and Skeat derived the Old English verb from an adjective meaning firm or tightly strung, from the verb behind writhe.^[11] Barnhart traces it to Proto-Indo-European *wreiḱ-,^[10] and Etymonline, following Watkins, to *wer- (“to turn, bend”).^[8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To turn or twist: the OED's first Old English record is Solomon and Saturn,^[4][7] and Barnhart dates the Old English verb to before 1000.^[10] A second Old English use is of the strings of a harp, tightened or played.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In early Middle English the word could mean to twist about or struggle, as in the Ancrene Riwle,^[8][10][7] but the idea of force soon took over.^[8] To pull something away with a twist is recorded from 1297.^[4][8] Chaucer used it of turning someone's heart or will to a person or thing, a sense that lasted until 1618,^[4] while from the early 15th century it meant to take power or authority by force.^[8] Hoad dates the sense of straining the meaning of words to the 16th century,^[6] and Pepys wrote in 1667 of a House "bent on wresting anything to his prejudice".^[12] The harp use survived until 1615,^[4] leaving the noun for a tuning key, from 1398, and the compound wrest pin.^[4][2] In Scots and in English dialects from Lincolnshire to Somerset the verb meant to twist or sprain a limb.^[13]

Timeline

• Old English – to turn or twist; to tighten the strings of a harp.^[4][7]
• 1297 – to pull or wrench away.^[4]
• before 1325 – noun, a twist, a wrench.^[10][4]
• c. 1370 – noun, in surgery, a peg for tightening a ligature (obsolete by 1425).^[4]
• c. 1374 – to dispose or incline a person (obsolete by 1618).^[4]
• 1398 – noun, a key for tuning a harp or spinet.^[4]
• early 15th century – to take power or authority by force.^[8]
• 1526 – figurative use of pulling or wrenching away.^[4]
• 16th century – to strain the meaning of words.^[6] The noun for such a straining is recorded from 1581 to 1609.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pull or force something away by a violent twist or wrench: He wrested the bag from the thief's hand.^[14][2][4]
2. To seize power, control or the like by force or unlawful means: The rebels wrested the port from the garrison.^[14][2]
3. To obtain something by hard effort: The settlers wrested a living from the thin soil.^[14][2]
4. To distort the meaning or purpose of words or the like.^[14][15]
5. To turn or twist.^[4][15]
6. (obsolete, Old English–1615) To tune or tighten the strings of an instrument.^[4][15]
7. (obsolete, c. 1374–1618) To dispose or influence a person.^[4][15]

Noun

1. The act of wresting; a twist or wrench.^[14][2][4]
2. (archaic) A small key for turning the tuning pins of a harp or piano.^[14][2][4]

Word family

• wrester
• wrest pin

Related words

• wrestle
• wrist
• writhe
• wreath

Usage notes

The wrest of a plough, the mouldboard or an iron fixed beneath it, recorded from 1652, has a separate source: it is an altered form of rest or reest, made to look like this word.^[4][2][15]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d e f Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
14. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press