wrenboy

One of a party of persons who go out to hunt the Wren on Christmas-day. [WREN NING-DAY.] "On the following day the feast of St. Stephen, the dead bird, hung by the leg between two hoops, cro ed at right angles, and decked with ribbons, was carried about by the Wren-boys." - Yarrell: Brit . Birds (ed 4th), i. 465. wren-like spine-tail, s . *1. Deceit, fraud. "For siker this the so the wei, withouten eny wrench." Robert of Gloucester, p. 55. *2. Stratagem, trick, artfulne . "The worlde is so malicious, that yf wee take not heede to prepare against his wrinches, it will ouerthrowe vs." Golden Boke, let. 3. 3. A violent twist; a pull with twisting. "If one straine make them not confe e, let them bee stretched but one wrench higher."-Bp. Hall: Cont.; The Arke and Dagon. 4. A bite given with a twisting movement of the head. "The white nicked up on the inside for two or three wrenches and the kill."- Field , Jan. 28, 1882. 5. A sprain; an injury by twisting, as in a joint. "The foot being injured by a wrench, the whole leg thereby loses its strength."- Locke . *6. A means of compulsion. "To make his profit of this busine of Naples as a wrench and mean for peace."- Bacon : Henry VII . 7. An instrument consisting of a bar having jaws adapted to catch upon the head of a bolt or upon a nut to turn it, or to hold the latter from turning in some cases when the bolt is being rotated. Some have a variety of jaws to suit different sizes of nuts and bolts.