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  1. spanner love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A wrench having a hook, hole, or pin at the end for meshing with a related device on another object.
  2. n. Chiefly British A wrench.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. One who or that which spans.
  2. n. An instrument for clasping and turning a nut on a screw, or for any similar purpose, as turning the wheel in cocking the old wheel-lock firearms, fastening and unfastening the couplings of fire-hose, etc.; a screw-key or screw-wrench. Spanners are made either with a hole to fit the shape of the nut, as square or hexagonal, or with movable jaws that can be tightened over a nut or a coupling of any shape.
  3. n. A cross-brace.
  4. n. In the parallel motion of a marine steam-engine, a rod which connects the jointed rods with the radius-bar; also, in some of the earlier engines, the hand-bar or lever by which the valves were moved for the admission and shutting off of the steam.
  5. n. A span-worm or looper.

Wiktionary

  1. n. Australia, New Zealand, UK A hand tool for adjusting nuts and bolts.
  2. n. rare One who, or that which, spans.
  3. n. weaponry A hand tool shaped like a small crank handle, for winding the spring of a wheel lock on a musket.
  4. n. obsolete A device in early steam engines for moving the valves for the alternate admission and shutting off of the steam.
  5. n. UK A problem, dilemma or obstacle; something unexpected or troublesome (in the phrase spanner in the works)
  6. n. UK, mildly derogatory A stupid or unintelligent person; one prone to making mistakes, especially in language.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. One who, or that which, spans.
  2. n. obsolete The lock of a fusee or carbine; also, the fusee or carbine itself.
  3. n. Chiefly British usage An iron instrument having a jaw to fit a nut or the head of a bolt, and used as a lever to turn it with; a wrench; specifically, a wrench for unscrewing or tightening the couplings of hose.
  4. n. A contrivance in some of the earlier steam engines for moving the valves for the alternate admission and shutting off of the steam.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a hand tool that is used to hold or twist a nut or bolt

Etymologies

  1. span +‎ -er (Wiktionary)
  2. German, winding tool, from spannen, to stretch, from Middle High German, from Old High German spannan; see (s)pen- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. wrench

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. hand tool

hyponyms (21)

Words that are more specific

  1. tappet wrench
  2. bulldog wrench
  3. open-end wrench
  4. pin wrench
  1. brace wrench
  2. adjustable spanner
  3. torque wrench
  4. box end wrench
  1. alligator wrench
  2. dog wrench
  3. sparkplug wrench
  4. hook spanner
  1. socket wrench
  2. screw key
  3. tap wrench
  4. box wrench
  1. Allen wrench
  2. hook wrench
  3. lug wrench
  4. carriage wrench
  1. adjustable wrench

same context (21)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. self-adjusting
  2. oilcan
  3. marlinspike
  4. hex-
  1. fourteen-inch
  2. open-end
  3. gimlet
  4. screw-driver
  1. pliers
  2. soul-shattering
  3. helicity
  4. hitters
  1. propinquity
  2. allthose
  3. crowfoot
  4. three-foot
  1. hydrant
  2. 1-inch
  3. lacuna
  4. calk
  1. meter-long

rhymes (9)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Tanner
  1. banner
  1. branner
  1. canner
  1. manner
  1. manor
  1. planner
  1. scanner
  1. tanner

reverse dictionary (18)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. hook wrench
  2. screw key
  3. wrench
  1. inchworm
  2. hose wrench
  3. dog-wrench
  1. wrench-hammer
  2. s-wrench
  3. box-spanner
  1. fork-wrench
  2. hook-wrench
  3. monkeywrench
  1. key
  2. screw-wrench
  3. set
  1. span
  2. socket-headed
  3. wrest

tags (3)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. tool
  1. german origin
  1. British

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Lists

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Comments

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  • dontcry Oh. I don't always blend well... Jan 1, 2009

  • Telofy Hmm, torsion is torsion, I can't take credit for that one, but your right of course, what I meant was torque. Jan 1, 2009

  • dontcry Torsion? Is that a portmanteau of torque and tension? Jan 1, 2009

  • Telofy The Spanner (the German term, hence the capitalization) we use to put torsion on the rotator/plug of a lock when picking it is called tension wrench. (I'm a lockpicker.) Dec 30, 2008

  • dontcry A wrench. Held by John Lennon on the cover of his book, "Spaniard in the Works." Dec 30, 2008

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‘spanner’ has been looked up 1440 times, added to 20 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.