Wring1, v. t.
(rĭng), v. t. [imp. & p. p. WRUNG (WRINGED, obs. and rare); p. pr. & vb. n. WRINGING.] [A-S. wringan, gewringan, L. Ger. & D. wringen, O. H. Ger. ringan, bringan, M. & N. H. Ger. ringen, Sw. vränga, Dan. vringe, to distort the face, Dan. vringle*, to twist. Cf. WRONG.]
Sense 1. To twist and compress; to pinch; to turn and strain with violence; to writhe; as, to wring clothes in washing. “Earnestly wringing Waverley’s hand.” W. Scott.
The priest shall bring it [a dove] to the altar, and wring off his head. Levit. i. 15.
Wring him by the nose. Shak.
Sense 2. Hence, to pain; to distress; to torment; to torture. “Too much grieved and wrung by an uneasy and strait fortune.” Clarendon.
The king began to find where his shoe did wring him. Bacon.
Didst thou taste but half the griefs That wring my soul, thou couldst not talk thus coldly. Addison.
Sense 3. To distort; to pervert.
How dare these men thus wring the Scriptures? Whitgift.
Sense 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.
He rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece. Judg. vi. 38.
Your over-kindness doth wring tears from me. Shak.
Sense 5. To subject to the process of extortion; to afflict in order to enforce compliance. “To wring the widow from her ’customed right.” Shak.
These merchant adventurers have been often wronged and wringed to the quick. Hayward.
Sense 6. (Naut.) To bend or strain out of its position; as, to wring a mast.