wrenning 
Stephen's day. in the north of England, in com- 
memoration "of the martjTdom of the saint. 
wrenning-day (reu'in^-da), ». St. Stephen's 
day, on which wrenning is practised in the 
north of England. 
wren-tit (ren'tit), II. A bird, Clunmeafasciata, 
peculiar to California, of uncertain relations, 
usually made the type and sole member of a 
family Chamieidx: so called from its uniting, 
to some extent, the habits of a wren and of a 
titmouse, it is about B inches long, with very short 
rounded wings, a long tail, the beak somewhat like that 
of a titmouse, the plumage remarkably soft and loose, of 
a dark-brown color, paler below, and the eye white. See 
Chayniea (with cut). Also called ground-tit. 
wrest (rest), v. [< ME. wresteu, wrasteii, wrsssteii, 
< AS. icrxntan, twist forcibly (cf. AS. wrssst, 
firm, strong, = Icel. reista, wrest; of. Dan. 
vriste. wrest); prob., with formative -t (-tht > 
St), < wrltlian (pret. wrdtli), writhe, twist: see 
writhe, and cf. wrctitli^. Cf. also wri.9t, wrestle.'\ 
1. trans. 1. To twist or turn; especially, to 
deflect, as from the existing or normal state, 
character, course, or significance: now used 
chiefly of immaterial things. 
And ilnaly he gan his herte wrests 
To trusten hire, and tok it for the beste. 
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1427. 
Wrest once the law to your authority ; 
To do a great right do a little wrong. 
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 216. 
The chemists have absurdly, and too literally, icrested 
and perverted the elegance of the term microcosm. 
Bacon, Physical Fables, ii., Expl. 
2. To remove, obtain, or bring by or as if by 
twisting or wringing; extract or pluck witli 
much effort ; wring ; wrench. 
Thay . . . KTaof out myn yjen. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. SO. 
In May, whan the nightyngale 
Wrestes out her notes musycall as pure as glas. 
Joseph 0/ Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 49. 
Industrious people icresting a wholesome living out of 
that stern environment. Froude, Sketches, p. 92. 
Il.t hifraihs. To wrestle; contend; strive. 
Thei . . . urested against the truth of a long time. 
Bp. Gardiner, Of True Obedience, fol. 33. {Encye. IHct.) 
wrest (rest), V. [< ME. wrest, wreste, wrnst : 
from the verb.] If. A twist; a writhing. 
First to the ryght honde thou shalle go, 
Sitthen to tho left honde thy neghe thou cast; 
To hora thou lK>ghe withouten wrast. 
Babees Bnok (E. E. T. S.), p. .300. 
2t. A tortuous action ; distortion ; perversion ; 
hence, a ruse; a stratagem. Compare (crejidf, 
II., 1. 
Than shall we wayte tham with a ivrest. 
And make all wast that thei haue wroght. 
York Plays, p. 133. 
3. An instrument of the wrench, screw-lcoy, 
or spanner kind; specifically, a key or small 
wrench for tuning stringed musical instru- 
ments, as the harp or piano, by turning the 
pins to which the strings are fastened. See 
tiiiiiiiff-liaiiitmr, and tuiuiuj-Jceij (undev I'cij'^). 
The Minstrel . . . wore around his neck a silver chain, 
by which hung the truest, or key with which he tuned his 
harp. Scott, Ivanhoe, xliii. 
4. The partition in an overshot wlieel which 
determines the form of the buckets. E. H. 
Knigh t. 
wrest-beert (rest'ber), «. A kind of beer which, 
according to Seldeu, was kept in cellar for a 
year to mature. 
In brewing of Wrest-Beer, there 's a great deal of busi- 
ness in grinding the Mault. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 81. 
Wrest-block (rest'blok), n. In the pianoforte, 
a wooden block, often made of several pieces, 
into which the wrest-pins are driven. It is of 
great importance in securing permanence of 
tune and sonority of tone. Also called jihi- 
hlock, hiick-hhick, wrcst-pUniK'. 
Wrester (res'ter), V. [< irresl + -crl.] One 
who wrests or jicrverts. 
wrestle (n^s'I), v.; pret. and pp. irrcstled, ppr. 
icrrstliiii;. [Also formerly or dial, wrastle, Sc. 
wurstle ; < ME. irrestlen, wrastleii, wrastelcii, 
wrystellcii, < AS. wrsestliaii, wrestle (rare), the 
form more commonly found being wrawliaii 
(> ME. wraxtcii, wraskieii) — OFries. wraxlia = 
MD. wnistcleii, icrn'stelen = MLG. wrostfUii, 
irorsteleii, LG. wrossehi, !(;orete//i, wrestle; freq. 
of im.it.] I. intrans. If. To twist or wind 
about; especially, to writhe; wriggle; squirm; 
struggle, as witli the limbs. 
Petrius peyned hyni stjre to a-rise and turned urastehii/fe; 
but all that availed not. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. (i5r). 
From hence the river having with a great turning com- 
passe after much )(rej*(Zi/i^ gotten out towards the North. 
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 279. (Danes.) 
6990 
And aye she warsled, and aye she swam, 
Till she swam to dry land. 
The Water o' Wearies Well (Child's Ballads, I. 200). 
2. To struggle in a hand-to-hand contest ; 
wretched 
be tuned; a tuning-pin. The upper part of the pin 
is square in section, so as to be turned by a tuning-ham- 
mer or -key. See cut under harp. — Wrest-pin piece, in 
the pianoforte, a metal plate through which the wrest- 
pins are screwed into the wrest-block. 
strive, as for some advantage or for mastery, .^gst-plank (rest'plangk), «. Same as icrest- 
with bodily strength and adroitness; specifi- " "gj. r & ^' 
eally, to struggle, as two persons striving to ,;„etch(rech),n.ando. [<M^.wrecche,wrechche, 
throw each other to the ground, especially in a "'■^'^^^ '<...„'- 
contest governed by certain fixed rules. 
For many a man that may not stonde a pul. 
It liketh hym at wrastdyng for to be. 
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 166. 
Wrothely thai wi-ythyne and wryttiUe togederz. 
MorU Arthure (E. E, T. S.), 1. 1141. 
And Jacob was left alone ; and there mresUed a man with 
him until the breaking of the day. Oen. xxxii. 24. 
You have wrestled well, and overthrown 
More than your enemies. 
Shak., As you Like it, i. 2. 260. 
Each one may here a chooser be, 
For room ye need not tcrastle. 
Drayton, Nymphldla. 
Hence — 3. To contend in any way, as in a 
struggle for mastery; maintain opposition or 
resistance, especially against a moral foe or 
force; strive. 
I persuaded them, if they loved Benedick, 
To wish him mrcstle with affection, 
And never to let Beatrice know it. 
Shak., Much Ado, iii. 1, 42. 
Put on the whole armour of God that ye may be able to 
stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not 
against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness. 
Eph. vi. 12. 
'Twill be some pleasure then to take his Breath, 
When he shall strive, and wrestte with his Death. 
Cowley, Davideis, i. 
4. To deal, as with a troublesome duty ; apply 
one's self vigorously; grapple: as, to wrestle 
with a knotty problem ; to wrestle with a dis- 
tasteful task. [Colloq.] — 5. Hence, to devote 
one's self earnestly to praj'er; pray. [Cant.] 
My reverend Clergy, look ye say 
The best of thanksgiving ye ha'e. 
And warstle for a sunny day. 
Scott, Carle, now the King's Come, ii. 
II. trans. 1. To contend with iu vprestling : 
as, I will wrestle you for so much. [Colloq.] 
— 2. On a cattle-range, to thro'W for the pur- 
pose of branding, as an animal. [Slang, west- 
ern U. S.] 
A fire is built, the irons heated, and a dozen men dis- 
wrxcche, wrehche, < AS. wrer.ea, wreecca, wreca, 
outcast, exile (= OS. wrekkio, an adventurer, 
warrior, = OHG. wreccho, reecho, a banished 
man, exile, stranger, adventurer, MHG. G. 
reche, a warrior, hero, giant), lit. 'one driven 
out'; cf. wreee, exile, < wrecan, drive out, banish, 
persecute, avenge, wreak : see loreni-l.] I. n. 1. 
A very miserable person ; one who is in a state 
of desperate unhappiness or misfortune, or is 
exposed to unavoidable suffering or disgrace. 
I wrecche, which that wepe and waille thus, 
Was whylom wyf to King Capaneus. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 73. 
Fly, ye Wrelchei, fly, and get away, for your King Is 
slain. Baker, Chronicles, p. 15. 
The poor wretch, half dead with fear, expected every 
moment to fall by the bloody hands of the Djawi. 
Bruxx, Source of the Kile, II. 690. 
2. A sorry or contemptible creature; a despi- 
cable person : a term of opprobrium applied to 
one who has incurred condemnation by mis- 
conduct, and often used on slight occasion and 
with little intended force. 
Fie on thee, wretch ! 'tis pity that thou Hvest 
To walk where any honest men resort. 
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 27. 
Does not every dowager in London point to George 
Fitz- Boodle as to a dissolute wretch whom young and old 
should avoid? Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle's Confessions. 
3. Body; creature; thing: used (in some man- 
ner that indicates the intention) of a person 
regarded with some degree of kindly or ironical 
commiseration, or, when genuine words of en- 
dearment seem inadequate, with tender sympa- 
thy or passion, or even with admiration. 
Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soul. 
But I do love thee ! Shak., Othello, ill. 3. 90. 
Poor icretch was never frighted so. 
Drayton, Nymphidia, at. 27. 
Come forth. 
Fond wretch, and know thyself and him aright. 
Shelley, Adonals, xlvlL 
Il.t a. Miserable; wretched. 
Thu wrecche wiht Owl and Nightingale, L 666. 
mount to, as it is called, wrestle the calves. 
T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 861. 'Wretchcockt, "• See wretchock. 
■wrestle (res'l). h. [Also dial, wrastle; < wrestle, 'Wretched (reeh'ed), a. [< UE.wrecched,wrech^, 
r.] A bout at wrestling; a wrestling-match. «'r!c/»erf, wretched, miserable; < 'fcfcA -I- -ed-!. 
corinen. . . whom in a uresile the giant catching For the form, cf. wickedl.-\ 1. Suffering from 
Corineus, . . . whom in a uresile the giant catching 
aloft, with a terrible hugg broke three of his ribs. 
Milton, Hist. Eng., i. 
If he had gone out for a few days with his sinewy cous- 
ins in the country, and tried a urastle with one of them, 
he would have quickly found that his body was a pretty 
slim affair. Tribune Book o/ Sports, p. 5. 
'wrestler (res'ler), H. [< ME. wrastlare, wrest- 
ler; < wrestle + -erl.] 1. One who wrestles ; 
specifically, one who makes a practice of wrest- 
ling, as a professed athlete. 
Was not Chailes, the duke's urestler, here to speak with 
me? SAa*., As you Like it, i. 1. 94. 
2. One who wrestles cattle on a range. [Slang, 
western U. S.] 
The C9\t-wre8tlers, grimy with blood, dust, and sweat, 
work like beavers. T. Roosevelt, The Centuiy, XXXV. 861. 
■wrestling (res'ling), «. [Verbal n. of wrestle, 
r. ] The act of trying to throw another person 
to the ground; the act of two persons contend- 
ing which shall throw the other to the ground 
and overpower him. ■Wrestling, as a game subject 
to special rules, is of great antiquity. It was held in high 
esteem by the Greeks, and their youth were taught it by 
special masters as part of the public education. In its 
highest and simplest form it was the fifth of the five tests 
of the pentathlon. In this contest the wrestlers wrestled 
standing and naked, any hold being allowed, and three 
falls constituting victory. Wrestling, in combination with 
bo.xing, formed the arduous and dangerous contest known 
as the pancratium — a contest nuich more resembling a 
fight to a finish than an athletic contest. A third form of 
wrestling, wllich does not seem to have come down to 
modern tinies, consisted in interlocking the fingers, push- 
ing the palms of the hands together, and twisting the 
joints and wrists, without the assistance of any other 
member or of any hold of the body. The highest and 
purest form of Greek wrestling does not appear to have 
l)een transplanted to Rome, although the more conten- 
tious and cruel pancratium — a sport more nearly allied to 
the Roman gladiatorial spirit — was introduced there by 
Caligula, and became very popular. 
Go not to the wrastelinqe, ne to scholynge at cok. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p, 40, 
■wres't-pin (rost'pin). n. Ill the pianoforte and 
liarp, ii steel pin driven into the \NTest-block or 
friune. nroniul wliicli one ciul of a string is 
wound, and by tuniint;' wliich llic string may 
or affected by extreme misery or distress ; deep- 
ly afflicted ; miserable ; unhappy. 
Thir wormes ete that wreche (var. ureched] manne. 
Old Eng. Metr. Homilies (B), 1. ila. (llorris and Skeat.) 
I am, my lord, a trretched Florentine, 
Shak., All's Well, v. 3. 
188. 
O wretched husband of a icretched wife ! 
Born with one fate, to one unhappy life I 
Pope, Iliad, xxiL 608. 
All his life long he had been learning how to be wretch- 
ed, as one learns a foreign tongue, 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, i. 
2. Characterized by or causing misery or un- 
happiness; very afliieting, annoying, or uncom- 
fortable ; distressingly bad in condition or re- 
lation: as, the wretched condition of a prison; 
wretched weather; a wretched prospect. 
Unhappy, wretched, hateful day ! 
Shak.,R. and J., iv. 6,43, 
It was not merely during the three hours and a half 
which Uncle Sam claimed as his share of my daily life 
that this uretched numbness held possession of me, 
Hawthorne. Scarlet Letter, Int,, p. 39. 
The wretched business of warfare must finally become 
obsolete all over the globe. 
J. Fiske, Amer, Pol. Ideas, p. 151. 
3. Of miserable character or quality : despica- 
ble; contemptible; reprehensible; strongly ob- 
jectionable: used of persons or things: as, a 
wretched blunderer or quibbler ; a tcretched quib- 
ble ; wretched stuff. 
Safe where no critics damn, no duns molest, 
Where wretched Withers, Ward, and Gildon rest. 
Pope, Dunciad, i, 296. 
At war with myself and a uretched race, 
Tennyson, Maud, 
X. 2. 
4. Worthless; paltr.v; very poor, mean, ineffi- 
cient, unsatisfactory, unskilful, or the like: as. 
a wretched poem ; a wretched cabin ; a wretched 
defense or piece of ■work. 
Affected noise is the most uretched thing 
That to contempt can empty scribblers bring. 
Roscommon, Translated Verse. 
= Syn. 1. Forlorn, woebegone, — 3. Vile, sorry, shabby^ 
pitiful. 
