wring

verb

1. (transitive)Often followed by out: to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly so that liquid is forced out.

   “I didn’t have a towel so I just wrung my hair dry.”

   “[…] Protagenes portrai[e]d Venus vvith a ſponge ſprinkled with ſvvéete vvater, but if once ſhe vvrong it, it vvould droppe blood: […]”

   “O my belly ſeeths like a Porridge-pot, ſome cold water I ſhall boyle ouer elſe; my whole body is in a ſweat, that you may wring my ſhirt; feele here— […]”

   “[T]hat greater numbers of them [pores], […] are perforations that paſs quite through the Leather, may, not improbably, be ſhewn by the uſual Practice of Chymiſts, to purify Quick-ſilver by typing it up ſtrictly in a piece of kids or ſheeps Leather, and then wringing it hard to force it out; […]”

   “[W]e contrived to satisfy the cravings of thirst by suffering the shirts to become saturated, and then wringing them so as to let the grateful fluid trickle into our mouths.”

2. (transitive)Often followed by out: to squeeze or twist (something moist) tightly so that liquid is forced out.

   ““I feel I’ve been wrung through a wringer,” Maggie said.”

3. (also, figuratively, transitive)Often followed by from or out: to extract (a liquid) from something wet by squeezing, twisting, or otherwise putting pressure on it.

   “Put the berries into a cheesecloth and wring the juice into a bowl.”

   “And whan he roſe vp early on the morow, he wrãge [wrange] yͤ dew out of the fleſe, and fylled a dyſſhe full of water.”

   “At the end of this very long walk stands a woman in white marble, in posture of a laundress wringing water out of a piece of linen, very naturally formed, into a vast lavor the work and invention of M[ichel] Angelo Buonarotti.”

   “[He] wrung the urine out of his perriwig, and lifting up a large ſtone, flung it with ſuch force againſt the ſtreet-door of that house from whence he had been bedewed, that the lock giving way, it flew wide open, […]”

   “[Y]ou have to dig the moor and dry the marsh, to bid the morass give forth instead of engulphing, and to wring the honey and oil out of the rock.”

4. (also, figuratively, transitive)To hold (someone or something) tightly and press or twist; to wrest.

   “to wring someone’s hand”

   “to wring the neck of a chicken”

   “And some I vysyte with brennynge of fyre; / Of some I wrynge of the necke lyke a wyre; […]”

   “[O]ne toke the other by the tip of the finger, for hand would there none be wrongẽ [wrongen] thorow the grate, […]”

   “[W]ith a ſoft ſleeke hand I’le clappe thy cheeke, / And wring thy fingers vvith an ardent gripe: […]”

5. (also, figuratively, transitive)To hold (someone or something) tightly and press or twist; to wrest.

   “to wring one’s hands with worry”

   “Come you whoſe loues are dead, / And whiles I ſing / Weepe and wring / Euery hand and euery head, […]”

   “Ah! wherefore doſt thou wring thy tender Hands / In woeful Attitude?”

   “[P]erſons in violent grief wring their hands and convulſe their countenances; […]”

   “The wind sawed, and the sawdust whirled. The shrubs wrung their many hands, bemoaning that they had been over-persuaded by the sun to bud; […]”

6. (transitive)To bend or strain (something) out of its position; to wrench, to wrest.

   “to wring a mast”

   “[B]y the couetous prieſtes of Baall through defaulte of good & godly Counſayllours, whome (doubte ye not but this wicked rable founde meanes to wring out of fauour, & to remoue awaye from the Kynges preſence) he was ſo coumpaced, weyghed, perſuaded, woonne, bewitched, peruerted & ſo farre ſeduced: yͭ (as the ſcripture recordeth), he did eiuil in the ſyght of the Lorde euen after the abominacyons of the heathen.”

   “Why, he wrong a club / Once in a fray out of the hande of Belzebub.”

   “[N]ow you haue my opinion, you muſt not thinke to wring me from it, for I had rather be as all women are, obſtinate in mine owne conceipt, then apt to be wrought to others conſtructions.”

   “And the Prieſt ſhall bring it [a dove] vnto the altar, and wring off his head, and burne it on the altar: […]”

7. (transitive)To contort or screw up (the face or its features).

   “Then would I laugh to ſee my lady pout, / And ſmyle when moſt ſhe wroung her mouth awry; […]”

   “VVould'ſt haue me cry, run rauing vp & dovvn, / For my ſons loſſe? vvould'ſt haue me turn rank mad, / Or vvring my face vvith mimick action; / Stampe, curſe, vveepe, rage, & then my boſome ſtrike?”

   “[W]hen he [a dog] fauneth vpon a man he vvringeth his ſk[i]nne in the forehead.”

   “When pain and anguish wring the brow, / A ministering angel thou!— […]”

   “He got to bed with these parti-coloured thoughts; passed from one dream to another all night long, the white face of Teresa still haunting him, wrung with unspoken thoughts; […]”

8. (transitive)To twist or wind (something) into coils; to coil.
9. (transitive)Of a thing (such as footwear): to pinch or press (a person or part of their body), causing pain.

   “Myselfe can tell best where my shooe doth wring mee.”

   “[T]he muſicke likes me not, and I haue a ſhooe vvrings me to'th heart; beſides I haue a vvomans reaſon, I vvill not daunce, becauſe I vvill not daunce: […]”

   “Is this not a goodly ſhooe? is it not finely made? and is it not nevve? yet I dare ſaye there is neuer a one of you can tell vvhere it vvringeth me.”

   “[…] I vvill let no cobvvebs fall into my eyes, for I knovv vvhere my ſhoo vvrings me: […]”

   “But for the extirpating of the Rootes and cauſes of the like Commotions in time to come, the King began to find vvhere his Shooe did vvring him, and that it vvas his depreſſing of the Houſe of Yorke, that did ranckle and feſter the affections of his People.”

10. (British, also, archaic, dialectal, figuratively, transitive)To cause (someone or something) physical harm, injury, or pain; specifically, by applying pressure or by twisting; to harm, to hurt, to injure.

    “A Lorde God, howe the gowte wryngeth me by the too!”

    “I preethe Tom beat Cuts ſaddle; put a fevv flockes in the point, poor iade is vvroong in the vvithers, out of all ceſſe.”

    “Then good Euphues wring not a horſe on the withers, with a falſe ſaddle, neither imagin what I am by thy thoughts, but mine own doings: […]”

    “All breathing Death, around their Chief [Achilles] they ſtand, / A grim, terrific, formidable Band [the Myrmidons]: / Grim as voracious VVolves that ſeek the Springs / VVhen ſcalding Thirſt their burning Bovvels vvrings.”

11. (figuratively, transitive)To cause (tears) to come out from a person or their eyes.

    “And art thou come, Horatio from the deapth, / To aske for iuſtice in this vpper earth? / To tell thy father thou art vnreuengde, / To vvring more teares from Iſabellas eyes: / VVhoſe lights are dim'd vvith ouer-long laments.”

    “The gripe of chaunce is vveake, to vvring a teare, / From him that knovves vvhat fortitude ſhould beare.”

    “[S]hame upon thee, / It vvrings the Tears from Grillon's Iron Heart, / And melts me to a Babe.”

    “But it is not, it is not, a ſmall diſtreſs that can vvring tears from theſe old eyes, that have not vvept for ſo many years.”

    “A foolish dream that from my brow hath wrung / A wrathful dew.”

12. (figuratively, transitive)To cause distress or pain to (a person or their heart, soul, etc.); to distress, to torment.

    “And if he had not too much cheriſh’d his natural conſtitution, and propenſity; and been too much griev’d, and wrung by an uneaſy and ſtreight Fortune; he would have been an excellent Man of buſineſs, […]”

    “Oh Portius, didſt thou taſte but half the Griefs / That wring my Soul, thou cou’dſt not talk thus coldly, […]”

    “[T]hough he has wrung my heart, for I am ſick almoſt to fainting, very ſick, my fellow priſoner, yet that ſhall never inſpire me with vengeance.”

    “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.”

    “And then to want and not to have—to want and want—how that wrung the heart, and wrung it again and again!”

13. (figuratively, transitive)To obtain (something) from or out of a person or thing by extortion or other force.

    “The police said they would wring the truth out of that criminal.”

    “No Harry, Harry, ’tis no Land of thine; / Thy place is fill’d, thy Scepter vvrung from thee, […]”

    “[I]f I could vvring ought from my ſelfe, not vnvvorthie of a iudicious Reader; […]”

    “Torture ſhould not vvring it from me, I aſſure you.”

    “Hard hands have wrung from me my goods, my money, my ships, and all that I possessed—Yet I can tell thee what thou lackest, and it may be, supply it too.”

14. (figuratively, transitive)To use effort to draw (a response, words, etc.) from or out of someone; to generate (something) as a response.

    “O noble ſir! / Your ouer kindneſſe doth vvring teares from me, […]”

    “My buſie heart ſhall ſpin it all my dayes: / And vvhen it ſtops for vvant of ſtore, / Then vvill I vvring it vvith a ſigh or grone, / That thou mayſt yet have more.”

    “[T]hirty ſpies, / VVho threatning cruel death conſtrain'd the bride / To vvring from me and tell to them my ſecret, / That ſolv'd the riddle vvhich I had propos'd.”

    “Whilst monarchs laughed upon their thrones / To hear a famished nation's groans, / And hugged the wealth wrung from the woe / That makes its eyes and veins o'erflow,— […]”

    “O Goddess! hear these tuneless numbers, wrung / By sweet enforcement and remembrance dear,”

15. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To afflict or oppress (someone) to enforce compliance; to extort.

    “VVho can be bound by any ſolemne Vovv[…] To vvring the VViddovv from her cuſtom’d right, And have no other reaſon for this vvrong, But that he vvas bound by a ſolemne Oath?”

    “[T]he Merchant aduenturers haue beene often vvronged and vvringed to the quicke, […]”

    “Time wasted is Exiſtence, us'd is Life. And bare Exiſtence, Man, to live ordain’d, / Wrings, and oppreſſes with enormous Weight.”

16. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To cause (someone) to do something or to think a certain way.

    “For men be ſo parciall alway to theim ſelfe, that our hart euer thinketh the iudgement wrong, that wringeth vs to the worſe.”

17. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To change (something) into another thing.

    “As the wines which flow from the first treading of the grape are sweeter and better than those forced out by the press, which gives them the roughness of the husk and the stone, so are those doctrines best and sweetest which flow from a gentle crush of the Scriptures, and are not wrung into controversies and common-places.”

18. (figuratively, obsolete, transitive)To give (teachings, words, etc.) an incorrect meaning; to twist, to wrest.

    “Lord, how dare these men thus wring the scriptures?”

    “Or elſe they vvould ſtraine us out a certaine figurative Prelat, by vvringing the collective allegory of thoſe ſeven Angels into ſeven ſingle Rochets.”

19. (figuratively, obsolete, reflexive, transitive)To put (oneself) in a position by cunning or subtle means; to insinuate.

    “Drudges, that haue no extraordinarie giftes of bodie nor of minde, filche themselues into some noble-mans seruice, either by bribes or by flatterie, and, when they are there, they so labour it with cap and knee, and ply it with priuie whisperinges, that they wring themsleues into his good opinion ere he be aware.”

    “VVe vvring our ſelues into this vvretched vvorld, / To pule, and vveepe, exclaime, to curſe and raile, / To fret, and ban the fates, to ſtrike the earth / As I doe novv.”

20. (transitive)To slide (two ultraflat surfaces) together such that their faces bond.

    “For a given set of blocks with lengths in multiples of thousandths the lengths may be so selected as to make it possible, by combining different blocks in wringing contact end to end, to form a series having any desired length, measured in inches and thousandths; […]”

    “The number of optical wringing procedures performed for each gauge block was five, and the number of measurements for each wringing procedure was eleven.”

    “The pack experiment method to evaluate phase correction is valuable in that the differences associated with wringing two different materials and/or surface finishes between the gauge blocks and the platen may be accounted for in the averaging over the pack gauge blocks.”

    “The uncertainty of wringing effect is 6.9 nm, which can be determined by wringing the same gauge block on the base plate repeatedly.”

21. (intransitive)To be engaged in clasping and twisting (especially the hands), or exerting pressure.

    “Go wash well, saith Sommer, with sunne I shall drie, / go wring well, saith Winter, with winde so shall I.”

    “[…] Mr. VVet-eyes vvent vvith hands vvringing together.”

    “jacopo foscari. They will not banish me again?—No—no, / Let them wring on; I am strong yet. / guard. Confess, / And the rack will be spared you.”

    “The Haunted Wood was full of the groans of mighty trees wrung in the tempest, and the air throbbed with the thunderous crash of billows on the distant shore.”

    “Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it. […] And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang.”

22. (intransitive)To twist the body in or as if in pain; to writhe.

    “No, no, tis all mens office to ſpeake patience / To thoſe that vvring vnder the loade of ſorrovv […]”

    “Bel[arius]. He vvrings at ſome diſtreſſe. / Gui[derius]. VVould I could free't.”

    “Oh lord how his feat feete and handes he wrang, / Beſeeching his great god, that day to guide him, / And from his mortall ennemie to deuide him: […]”

    “[H]ovv is it [a worm] vexed vvith the ſcorching beames [of the sun], and vvrings vp and dovvne, in an helpleſſe perplexity; not finding vvhere to ſhrovvd it ſelfe; hovv obnoxious is it to the ſoules of the ayre, to the feet of men, and beaſts?”

    “In hydra-wrestle, giant ‘Millocracy’ so called, a real giant, though as yet a blind one and but half-awake, wrestles and wrings in choking nightmare, ‘like to be strangled in the partridge-nets of Phantasm-Aristocracy,’ as we said, which fancies itself still to be a giant.”

23. (figuratively, intransitive)To contend, to struggle; also, to strive, to toil.

    “Thus chaunce hath (by exchaunge) the flie ſo trapt, / That ſodainly he loſt his libertee: / The more he wrange, the faſter was he wrapt [in the spider's web] / And all to thencreaſe of his ieoberdee, […]”

24. (figuratively, intransitive)To experience distress, pain, punishment, etc.

    “[A]ll Ambaſſadours / (You knovv) haue chiefly theſe inſtructions; / […] / [T]o obſerue the countenances and ſpirites, / Of ſuch as are impatient of reſt; / And vvring beneath, ſome priuate diſcontent: […]”

25. (intransitive)Of a lode: to be depleted of ore; to peter or peter out.
26. (intransitive, obsolete)To make a way out with difficulty.

noun

1. (also, figuratively)A powerful squeezing or twisting action.

   “I grasped his hand and gave it a grateful wring.”

   “The VVring by the hand, and the Banquet is ours.”

   “And hauing clipt them vvith pretence of loue, / Haue I not cruſht them vvith a cruell vvring?”

   “Yet do I vnderſtand your darkeſt language, / Your treads ath'toe, your ſecret iogges and vvringes: / Your entercourſe of glaunces: euery tittle / Of your cloſe Amorous rites I vnderſtand, / They ſpeake as loud to mee, as if you ſaid, / My deareſt Dariotto, I am thine.”

   “Martha was ever the more active. She, that was before so busily stirring in her house to entertain Jesus, was now as nimble to go forth of her house to meet him. She, in whose face joy had wont to smile upon so Blessed a guest, now salutes him with the sighs and tears and blubbers and wrings of a disconsolate manner.”

2. (dated)Followed by down: the product of wringing, such as cider or wine.

   “She had just got off her mare to look at the last wring-down of cider for the year; […]”

3. (obsolete)A sharp physical pain, especially in the abdomen; also, mental pain or distress.

   “Hens dung ſvvallovved [by a horse] by hap, bringeth frets and vvrings in the bellie: […]”

   “When we have good dayes we slight them, when they are gone, we sinke under the wring of sorrow, for their losse; and want teacheth vs the worth of things more truely: and it is a true saying, Blessings appeare not, till they bee vanished.”

4. (archaic)A device for compressing or pressing, especially for making cheese, cider from apples, or wine from grapes.

   “In order to avoid a great deal of trouble, and to perform the work more effectually, by diveſting the nevv made Cyder of vvhat pummice and other impurities remain; after ſtraining it through a hair ſieve, on its coming from the VVring, or Preſs, it is neceſſary to be provided vvith a large open vat, keeve, or clive, vvhich vvill contain a vvhole pounding, or making of Cyder; or as much as can be preſſed in one day: […]”

   “Take any quantity of cider that is old, strong, harsh, or of an inferior quality, and add to it the same quantity of cider from the wring, or press; rouse it up well, and fix it in a warm place, or in the sun, which is certainly the best for its progress; […]”

   “Tess […] gradually fell asleep again, the words of her informant coming to her along with the smell of cheeses in the adjoining cheese-loft, and the measured dripping of the whey from the wrings downstairs.”

   “They tossed and turned on their little beds, and the cheese-wring dripped monotonously downstairs.”