wrest

wrest
    v 1: obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also
         metaphorically; "wrest the knife from his hands"; "wrest a
         meaning from the old text"; "wrest power from the old
         government"
    

Wrest \Wrest\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wrested}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Wresting}.] [OE. wresten, AS. wr?stan; akin to wr?? a
   twisted band, and wr[imac]?n to twist. See {Writhe}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   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.
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            Our country's cause,
            That drew our swords, now secret wrests them from
            our hand.                             --Addison.
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            They instantly wrested the government out of the
            hands of Hastings.                    --Macaulay.
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   2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper
      use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort.
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            Wrest once the law to your authority. --Shak.
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            Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. --Ex.
                                                  xxiii. 6.
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            Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false
            interpreting the holy text.           --South.
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   3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.]
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Wrest \Wrest\, n.
   1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence,
      distortion; perversion. --Hooker.
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   2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] --Spenser.
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   3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music.
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            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.
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   4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the
      buckets is determined.
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   {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.
      [1913 Webster]
    

114 Moby Thesaurus words for "wrest":
      anamorphism, anamorphosis, arrogate, asymmetry, avulse, badger,
      bend, blackmail, buckle, claim, color, confiscate, confuse,
      contort, contortion, crook, crookedness, crumple, cut out, demand,
      deracinate, detorsion, deviation, dig out, dig up, disentangle,
      disproportion, distort, distortion, draw, draw out, dredge,
      dredge up, elicit, eradicate, evolve, evulse, exact, exaction,
      excavate, excise, exsect, extort, extortion, extract, extricate,
      force from, garble, get out, gnarl, gouge, gouge out, grub up,
      imbalance, irregularity, knot, levy blackmail, lopsidedness, mine,
      miscolor, pervert, pick out, pinch, pluck out, pluck up,
      pry loose from, pull, pull out, pull up, quarry, quirk, rake out,
      remove, rend, rend from, rending, rip, rip from, rip out, ripping,
      root out, root up, screw, shake down, snatch from, spring, squeeze,
      take out, tear from, tear out, tearing, torsion, tortuosity, turn,
      turn awry, twist, unearth, unravel, unsymmetry, uproot, usurp,
      warp, weed out, withdraw, wrench, wrench from, wrenching,
      wrest out, wresting, wring, wring from, wringing, writhe, wry