The monkey wrench is an adjustable wrench, a later American development of eighteenth century English coach wrenches. It was popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but is now used only for heavier tasks, having been mostly replaced by the lighter and sleeker shifting adjustable. The term monkey wrench is also used colloquially (and mistakenly) to refer to the pipe wrench, owing to their broadly similar shapes.
Read more about Monkey Wrench: Etymology and History, Charles Moncky Story, Cluedo Token
Famous quotes containing the words monkey and/or wrench:
“Do you know who’s sneaked into my stateroom at three o’clock this morning? Nobody, and that’s my complaint!”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Arthur Sheekman, Will Johnstone, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Monkey Business, a complaint shipboard stowaway Groucho makes to the ship’s captain (Ben Taggart)
“That is what we must make people feel... the catch in the throat, the wrench to steady the nerves, the determination to carry on.”
—John Dos Passos (1896–1970)