wrest \rest\,
verb:
1. to take away by force: to wrest a knife from a child.
2. to twist or turn; pull, jerk, or force by a violent twist.
3. to get by effort: to wrest a living from the soil.
4. to twist or turn from the proper course, application, use, meaning, or the like; wrench.
noun:
1. a wresting; twist or wrench.
2. a key or small wrench for tuning stringed musical instruments, as the harp or piano, by turning the pins to which the strings are fastened.
Can I possibly go back and wrest from my past some remnant of a better beginning?
-- Ken Kesey, "Sometimes a Great Notion," 2006
He could wrest beauty from anything.
-- Fiona Maazel, "Last Last Chance," 2009
From the Old Norse wreista meaning "to bend, twist," wrest shares its origin with the word wrist.
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