spanner

To use a spanner; to fix with a spanner

Noun

  1. A hand tool for adjusting nuts and bolts.
    • Pass me that spanner, Jake; there's just one more bolt to screw in.
    • Tools don’t have judgment or ethics, and they might fail to push back on bad ideas or dangerous requests. “Your spanner’s never like, ‘This shouldn’t be built,’” she said, using a British term for wrench. - 2025...

    Synonyms: wrench

    Hypernyms: hand tool tool

    1. (Canada, US) Any of certain types of such a tool that have a pin or hook to engage the driven object.

      • The groove in this toolholder is what the spanner grabs onto when you are changing the tool.

      Synonyms: wrench

      Hypernyms: hand tool tool wrench

  2. One who, or that which, spans.
    • The scheme of the spanner of continents and the desire of the little husbandman hoarding for his loved ones... - 1915, Florence Kiper Frank, The Jew to Jesus: and other poems:
  3. A (usually sparse) graph whose shortest path distances approximate those in a dense graph or other metric space.
  4. A hand tool shaped like a small crank handle, for winding the spring of a wheel lock on a musket.
    • The spanner for spanning or winding up the spring of the wheel lock. - 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, Fig. 10., page xvi:
  5. A device in early steam engines for moving the valves for the alternate admission and shutting off of the steam.
  6. A problem, dilemma or obstacle; something unexpected or troublesome (in the phrase spanner in the works)
    • Halfway through the production of Macbeth, the director found that the stage was smaller than he expected. This really threw a spanner in the works.
  7. A stupid or unintelligent person; one prone to making mistakes, especially in language.
    • You spanner, Rodney! I wanted some time, not a bunch of thyme!

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend-der. Proto-Germanic *spannō Old English spann Middle English spanne English span Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzijos Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English spanner From span + -er.

Forms

spanners

Synonyms

wrench

Derived

adjustable spanner bobbejaan spanner crescent spanner dog bone spanner put a spanner in the works ring spanner shifting spanner spanner barb spanner crab spannered spanner in the works spannerless spanner wrench spider spanner throw a spanner in the works throw a spanner into the works torque spanner

Verb

  1. To use a spanner; to fix with a spanner

Forms

spanners spannering spannered