Link Centre Dictionary

wring

UK/ˈɹɪŋɡ/ US/ɹɪŋ/ uncommon archaic dated obsolete uk
verb (4) noun (1)

verb

1.

twist and press out of shape

Synonyms
2.

twist and compress, as if in pain or anguish

  • “Wring one”
Synonyms
3.

obtain by coercion or intimidation

  • “They extorted money from the executive by threatening to reveal his past to the company boss”
  • “They squeezed money from the owner of the business by threatening him”
Synonyms
4.

twist, squeeze, or compress in order to extract liquid

  • “wring the towels”

noun

1.

a twisting squeeze

  • “gave the wet cloth a wring”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle English wring, wringe, wringen, wryng, wrynge, wryngen, wryngyn, from Old English wringan (“to wring”), from Proto-Germanic *wringaną (“to squeeze, twist, wring”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wrenǵʰ- (“to squeeze, wring”). Cognates Cognate with Scots wring (“to wring”), Saterland Frisian wringe (“to wring”), Dutch wringen (“to wring; to wrest; to writhe”), German ringen (“to wrestle; to struggle; to wring”), wringen (“to wring”), Luxembourgish réngen (“to grapple, wrestle”); also Ancient Greek ῥίμφα (rhímpha, “fast, nimbly, rapidly”), Lithuanian rangýti (“to roll up; to curl, twist, wave”).

Phrases

  • hand wringing
  • wring out
  • wringing wet

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Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.