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["a]nga to distort, Dan. vringle to twist. Cf. {Wrangle}, {Wrench}, {Wrong}.] 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.
[His steed] so sweat that men might him wring. --Chaucer.
The king began to find where his shoe did wring him. --Bacon.
The priest shall bring it [a dove] unto the altar, and wring off his head. --Lev. i. 15.
2. Hence, to pain; to distress; to torment; to torture.
Too much grieved and wrung by an uneasy and strait fortune. --Clarendon.
Didst thou taste but half the griefs That wring my soul, thou couldst not talk thus coldly. --Addison.
3. To distort; to pervert; to wrest.
How dare men thus wring the Scriptures? --Whitgift.
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.
Your overkindness doth wring tears from me. --Shak.
He rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece. --Judg. vi. 38.
5. To subject to extortion; to afflict, or oppress, in order to enforce compliance.
To wring the widow from her 'customed right. --Shak.
The merchant adventures have been often wronged and wringed to the quick. --Hayward.
6. (Naut.) To bend or strain out of its position; as, to wring a mast.
Other potential nuclear weapons states will doubtless have noted the sort of concessions which can be wrung from the US in return for giving up nuclear programmes.
During the trial, prosecutors presented witnesses who described how Dulay wrung the neck of Gov. Renicolas Delizo and yelled: "Goddamn, you will die, I will kill you."
Sensitive adolescents now are more likely to have their hearts wrung by the sad fate of sailor sodomites than of Joan of Arc, of whom they will not have heard.
What protests have been wrung from Hungary's Communist Party boss, Janos Kadar, have been made in oh-so-polite terms.
Yet London, Dublin and soppy liberals everywhere dance around Sinn Fein, in a ritual of courtship that must bring a smile to the face of their president. The list of concessions wrung out of the Irish and British governments is depressing.
"They haven't wrung the sponge dry yet," Mr. Gottesman said, "although Interpublic is closer to a dry sponge than the others.