Dictionary entry

Wrest (2)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Wrest, n. 1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence, distortion; perversion. Hooker.

2. Active or moving power. 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.