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Wrench vs Twitch - What's the difference?

wrench | twitch | Related terms |

Wrench is a related term of twitch.


In lang=en terms the difference between wrench and twitch

is that wrench is to use the tool known as a wrench while twitch is to spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one.

As nouns the difference between wrench and twitch

is that wrench is (obsolete) a trick or artifice while twitch is a brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm or twitch can be couch grass, elymus repens ; a species of grass, often considered as a weed.

As verbs the difference between wrench and twitch

is that wrench is (obsolete) to violently move in a turn or writhe while twitch is to perform a twitch; spasm.

wrench

English

(wikipedia wrench)

Alternative forms

* ** wrenche * ** wrinche * ** wringe

Noun

(wrenches)
  • (obsolete) A trick or artifice.
  • * c. 1210 , MS. Cotton Caligula A IX f.246
  • Mon mai longe liues wene; / Ac ofte him liedh the wrench .
  • (obsolete) Deceit; guile; treachery.
  • A movement that twists or pulls violently; a tug.
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
  • With a wrench , which threw his victim back upon the bed as though hurled from a height, he turned and sprang at us.
  • An injury caused by a violent twisting or pulling of a limb; strain, sprain.
  • (obsolete) A turn at an acute angle.
  • (archaic) A winch or windlass.
  • (obsolete) A screw.
  • A distorting change from the original meaning.
  • (US) A hand tool for making rotational adjustments, such as fitting nuts and bolts, or fitting pipes; a spanner.
  • A violent emotional change caused by separation.
  • (physics) In screw theory, a screw assembled from force and torque vectors arising from application of Newton's laws to a rigid body.
  • (obsolete) means; contrivance
  • (Francis Bacon)

    Synonyms

    * (tool) spanner (UK, Australia)

    Derived terms

    * adjustable wrench * socket wrench * monkey-wrench, monkey wrench, monkeywrench * pipe wrench * screw wrench * torque wrench * torsion wrench * tube wrench * dog bone wrench

    Verb

    (es)
  • (obsolete) To violently move in a turn or writhe.
  • To pull or twist violently.
  • With a surge of adrenaline, she wrenched the car door off and pulled out the injured man.
  • (obsolete) To turn aside or deflect.
  • (obsolete) To slander.
  • (obsolete) To tighten with or as if with a winch.
  • To injure (a joint) by pulling or twisting.
  • Be careful not to wrench your ankle walking along those loose stones!
  • To distort from the original meaning.
  • (obsolete) To thrust a weapon in a twisting motion.
  • (intransitive, fencing, obsolete) To disarm an opponent by whirling his or her blade away.
  • To rack with pain.
  • To deprive by means of a violent pull or twist.
  • To use the tool known as a wrench.
  • The plumber wrenched the pipes until they came loose.

    twitch

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) twicchen, from (etyl) twiccian, from (etyl) ).

    Noun

    (es)
  • A brief, small (sometimes involuntary) movement out of place and then back again; a spasm.
  • I saw a little twitch in the man's face, and knew he was lying.
  • (informal) Action of spotting or seeking out a bird, especially a rare one.
  • (farriery) A stick with a hole in one end through which passes a loop, which can be drawn tightly over the upper lip or an ear of a horse and twisted to keep the animal quiet during minor surgery.
  • Derived terms
    * nervous twitch

    Verb

  • To perform a twitch; spasm.
  • * (rfdate) — [http://www.mindspring.com/~randyhoward/new_page_6.htm]
  • "Why is it that you twitch whenever I say Faith?"
  • * 1922 , (Margery Williams), (The Velveteen Rabbit)
  • *:Their feet padded softly on the ground, and they crept quite close to him, twitching their noses...
  • To jerk sharply and briefly.
  • to twitch somebody's sleeve for attention
  • * Alexander Pope
  • Thrice they twitched the diamond in her ear.
  • To spot or seek out a bird, especially a rare one.
  • * 1995 , Quarterly Review of Biology vol. 70 p. 348:
  • "The Birdwatchers Handbook ... will be a clear asset to those who 'twitch' in Europe."
  • * 2003 , Mark Cocker, Birders: Tales of a Tribe [http://books.google.com/books?id=tv-Noj1Fvc0C], ISBN 0802139965, page 52:
  • "But the key revelation from twitching that wonderful Iceland Gull on 10 March 1974 wasn't its eroticism. It was the sheer innocence of it."
  • * 2005 , Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch: One Man, One Continent, a Race Against Time [http://books.google.com/books?id=fWLmpqL4EMsC], ISBN 1741145287, page 119:
  • "I hadn't seen John since I went to Adelaide to (unsuccessfully) twitch the '87 Northern Shoveler, when I was a skinny, eighteen- year-old kid. "
    Usage notes
    When used of birdwatchers by ignorant outsiders, this term frequently carries a negative connotation.
    Derived terms
    * atwitch

    Etymology 2

    alternate of quitch

    Noun

    (-)
  • couch grass, Elymus repens ; a species of grass, often considered as a weed.