▪ I. † unˈwrench, n. Obs.
[OE. unwrenc (un-1 4 b, 12).]
An evil or base trick, artifice, or turn; a vice or sin.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. C. xxxiii. 215 Ða ᵹeðyld..for ðæm unwrence ðære unᵹeðylde..he forlet. a 1023 Wulfstan Hom. 54 Mid ðam unwrencan bið Antecrist eal afylled. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 79 Ȝif þe unfele man..mid felefolde wiȝeles teð him to unwrenches. a 1225 Ancr. R. 268 Vor þet is his unwrench..þet holi men mest dredeð. c 1250 Owl & N. 169 Ne speddestu noȝt mid þine unwrenche, For ich am war. |
▪ II. unˈwrench, v.
[un-2 9.]
trans. To open or detach by wrenching.
| 1818 Milman Genius 27 While Rape unwrench'd her wither'd grasp That clung unto the tomb. 1832 J. Montgomery Cholera Mount Wks. 1841 IV. 170 The blue pest, whose gripe no art can shun, No force unwrench. |