Library / English Dictionary

WRING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: wrung   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A twisting squeeze

Example:

gave the wet cloth a wring

Synonyms:

squeeze; wring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("wring" is a kind of...):

motion; movement (a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something)

Derivation:

wring (twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish

Example:

Wring one's hand

Synonyms:

wrench; wring

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wring" is one way to...):

distort; twine; twist (form into a spiral shape)

Verb group:

contort; deform; distort; wring (twist and press out of shape)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Also:

wring out (extract (liquid) by squeezing or pressing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Twist and press out of shape

Synonyms:

contort; deform; distort; wring

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wring" is one way to...):

distort; twine; twist (form into a spiral shape)

Verb group:

wrench; wring (twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish)

wring (twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wring"):

morph (change shape as via computer animation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid

Example:

wring the towels

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "wring" is one way to...):

crush; mash; squash; squeeze; squelch (to compress with violence, out of natural shape or condition)

Verb group:

contort; deform; distort; wring (twist and press out of shape)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

wring (a twisting squeeze)

wringer (a clothes dryer consisting of two rollers between which the wet clothes are squeezed)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Obtain by coercion or intimidation

Example:

They squeezed money from the owner of the business by threatening him

Synonyms:

extort; gouge; rack; squeeze; wring

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "wring" is one way to...):

fleece; gazump; hook; overcharge; pluck; plume; rob; soak; surcharge (rip off; ask an unreasonable price)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "wring"):

bleed (get or extort (money or other possessions) from someone)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something from somebody

Credits

 Context examples: 

I sank on the wet doorstep: I groaned—I wrung my hands—I wept in utter anguish.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

And when Meg told him to behave himself and go away, he wrung imaginary tears out of his handkerchief, and staggered round the corner as if in utter despair.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

'The window! For heaven's sake shut that window!' roared the Professor from the platform, dancing and wringing his hands in an agony of apprehension.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"Oh! You drive me mad!" She sprang to her feet, wringing her hands in impotent wrath. "You never used to be this way."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Twice she thrust forward at it, and twice she drew back, until at last, giving up in despair, she sat herself down by the brink and wrung her hands wearily.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I slept after the prostration of the day, with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the nightmares that wrung me could avail to break.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

By the quantity of provision which I had consumed, I should guess that I had passed three weeks in this journey; and the continual protraction of hope, returning back upon the heart, often wrung bitter drops of despondency and grief from my eyes.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Oh, Trotwood, Trotwood!” exclaimed Mr. Wickfield, wringing his hands.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In a long life of acts which were often not pleasant to do, and which sometimes did wring my heart, I have never had so heavy a task as now.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Dr. Armstrong took a quick step forward and wrung Holmes by the hand.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)