spanner — English Dictionary

spanner
Pronunciations (18)
  • /ˈspænə/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • [ˈspænə]
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • [ˈspanə]
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /ˈspanə/
    Pronunciation notes
    • British
    • Northern-England
    • Southern
    • Standard
    • Wales
  • [ˈspanə]
    Pronunciation notes
    • British
    • Northern-England
    • Southern
    • Standard
    • Wales
  • /ˈspænə/
  • [ˈspænə]
  • [ˈspeːnə]
  • [ˈspɛːnə]
  • /ˈspɛnə/
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • [ˈspɛnə]
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • /ˈspænɚ/
  • [ˈspeə̯nɚ]
  • [ˈspɛə̯nɚ]
  • /ˈspanəɾ/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Scotland
  • [ˈspänəɾ]
    Pronunciation notes
    • Scotland
  • ˈspæn.ə(ɹ)
    Pronunciation notes
    • GB
  • ˈspæn.ɚ
    Pronunciation notes
    • US

Noun

  1. A hand tool for adjusting nuts and bolts.

    Usage
    • Commonwealth usage
    • Ireland
    • UK usage
    Synonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    Pass me that spanner, Jake; there's just one more bolt to screw in.

    More examples (1)

    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.

  2. A hand tool for adjusting nuts and bolts. Any of certain types of such a tool that have a pin or hook to engage the driven object.

    Usage
    • Canada
    • Commonwealth usage
    • Ireland
    • UK usage
    • US usage
    Broader terms
    Examples

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

  3. One who, or that which, spans.

    Usage
    • Rare
    Examples

    The scheme of the spanner of continents and the desire of the little husbandman hoarding for his loved ones...

  4. A (usually sparse) graph whose shortest path distances approximate those in a dense graph or other metric space.

  5. A hand tool shaped like a small crank handle, for winding the spring of a wheel lock on a musket.

    Examples

    The spanner for spanning or winding up the spring of the wheel lock.

  6. A device in early steam engines for moving the valves for the alternate admission and shutting off of the steam.

    Usage
    • Obsolete
  7. A problem, dilemma or obstacle; something unexpected or troublesome (in the phrase spanner in the works)

    Usage
    • Ireland
    • UK usage
    Examples

    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.

  8. A stupid or unintelligent person; one prone to making mistakes, especially in language.

    Usage
    • Ireland
    • UK usage
    • Derogatory
    • mildly
    Examples

    You spanner, Rodney! I wanted some time, not a bunch of thyme!

Verb

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

Noun

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

    Synonyms
    Broader terms
Word forms
spannersspannersspanneringspanneredspannered

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