wring

wring
    n 1: a twisting squeeze; "gave the wet cloth a wring" [syn:
         {squeeze}, {wring}]
    v 1: twist and press out of shape [syn: {contort}, {deform},
         {distort}, {wring}]
    2: twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish; "Wring one's
       hand" [syn: {wring}, {wrench}]
    3: obtain by coercion or intimidation; "They extorted money from
       the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the
       company boss"; "They squeezed money from the owner of the
       business by threatening him" [syn: {extort}, {squeeze},
       {rack}, {gouge}, {wring}]
    4: twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid;
       "wring the towels"
    

Wring \Wring\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wrung}, Obs. {Wringed}; p.
   pr. & vb. n. {Wringing}.] [OE. wringen, AS. wringan; akin to
   LG. & D. wringen, OHG. ringan to struggle, G. ringen, Sw.
   vr[aum]nga to distort, Dan. vringle to twist. Cf. {Wrangle},
   {Wrench}, {Wrong}.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To twist and compress; to turn and strain with violence;
      to writhe; to squeeze hard; to pinch; as, to wring clothes
      in washing. "Earnestly wringing Waverley's hand." --Sir W.
      Scott. "Wring him by the nose." --Shak.
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            [His steed] so sweat that men might him wring.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            The king began to find where his shoe did wring him.
                                                  --Bacon.
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            The priest shall bring it [a dove] unto the altar,
            and wring off his head.               --Lev. i. 15.
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   2. Hence, to pain; to distress; to torment; to torture.
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            Too much grieved and wrung by an uneasy and strait
            fortune.                              --Clarendon.
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            Didst thou taste but half the griefs
            That wring my soul, thou couldst not talk thus
            coldly.                               --Addison.
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   3. To distort; to pervert; to wrest.
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            How dare men thus wring the Scriptures? --Whitgift.
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   4. To extract or obtain by twisting and compressing; to
      squeeze or press (out); hence, to extort; to draw forth by
      violence, or against resistance or repugnance; -- usually
      with out or form.
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            Your overkindness doth wring tears from me. --Shak.
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            He rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the
            fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the
            fleece.                               --Judg. vi.
                                                  38.
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   5. To subject to extortion; to afflict, or oppress, in order
      to enforce compliance.
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            To wring the widow from her 'customed right. --Shak.
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            The merchant adventures have been often wronged and
            wringed to the quick.                 --Hayward.
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   6. (Naut.) To bend or strain out of its position; as, to
      wring a mast.
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Wring \Wring\, v. i.
   To writhe; to twist, as with anguish.
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         'T is all men's office to speak patience
         To those that wring under the load of sorrow. --Shak.
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         Look where the sister of the king of France
         Sits wringing of her hands, and beats her breast.
                                                  --Marlowe.
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Wring \Wring\, n.
   A writhing, as in anguish; a twisting; a griping. [Obs.]
   --Bp. Hall.
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146 Moby Thesaurus words for "wring":
      afflict, agonize, ail, anamorphism, anamorphosis, asymmetry,
      badger, bend, bite, blackmail, bloody, buckle, burn, chafe, claim,
      claw, concentrate, contort, contortion, convulse, corkscrew,
      crinkle, crook, crookedness, crucify, crumple, cut, decoct, demand,
      detorsion, deviation, disproportion, distill, distort, distortion,
      distress, essentialize, exact, exaction, excruciate, express,
      extort, extortion, fester, force from, fret, gall, give pain,
      gnarl, gnaw, gouge, grate, grind, gripe, harrow, hurt, imbalance,
      impale, inflame, inflict pain, infuse, intort, irregularity,
      irritate, kill by inches, knot, lacerate, lancinate,
      levy blackmail, lopsidedness, macerate, martyr, martyrize, meander,
      melt down, nip, pain, pierce, pinch, press, press out, prick,
      prolong the agony, pry loose from, punish, put to torture, quirk,
      rack, rankle, rasp, refine, rend, rend from, render, rending, rip,
      rip from, ripping, rub, savage, scallop, scarify, screw,
      serpentine, shake down, slink, snake, snatch from, soak, spring,
      squeeze, stab, steep, sting, swirl, tear from, tearing, torment,
      torsion, tortuosity, torture, try, turn, turn awry, tweak, twine,
      twirl, twist, twist and turn, unsymmetry, warp, whirl, whorl, wind,
      worm, wound, wrench, wrench from, wrenching, wrest, wresting,
      wring from, wring out, wringing, writhe, wry