Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Wrest \Wrest\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Wrested}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Wresting}.] [OE. wresten, AS. wr?stan; akin to wr?? a
   twisted band, and wr[=i]?n to twist. See {Writhe}.]
   1. To turn; to twist; esp., to twist or extort by violence;
      to pull of force away by, or as if by, violent wringing or
      twisting. ``The secret wrested from me.'' --Milton.

            Our country's cause, That drew our swords, now
            secret wrests them from our hand.     --Addison.

            They instantly wrested the government out of the
            hands of Hastings.                    --Macaulay.

   2. To turn from truth; to twist from its natural or proper
      use or meaning by violence; to pervert; to distort.

            Wrest once the law to your authority. --Shak.

            Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor. --Ex.
                                                  xxiii. 6.

            Their arts of wresting, corrupting, and false
            interpreting the holy text.           --South.

   3. To tune with a wrest, or key. [Obs.]

Wrest \Wrest\, n.
   1. The act of wresting; a wrench; a violent twist; hence,
      distortion; perversion. --Hooker.

   2. Active or moving power. [Obs.] --Spenser.

   3. A key to tune a stringed instrument of music.

            The minstrel . . . wore round his neck a silver
            chain, by which hung the wrest, or key, with which
            he tuned his harp.                    --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.

   4. A partition in a water wheel, by which the form of the
      buckets is determined.

   {Wrest pin} (Piano Manuf.), one of the pins around which the
      ends of the wires are wound in a piano. --Knight.

   {Wrest plank} (Piano Manuf.), the part in which the wrest
      pins are inserted.

Source : WordNet®

wrest
     v : obtain by seizing forcibly or violently, also
         metaphorically; "wrest the knife from his hands"; "wrest
         a meaning from the old text"; "wrest power from the old
         government"