Forms: α. 1– wrist, 5–6 wriste, 4–5 wryste, 5–6 wryst; 4 virste, 5 wirste, 5–6 wyrste, 9 dial. wurst. β. 4–7 wrest (5 wrost ?), 5–6 wreste, 6 wreast (wrast, 8 dial. wraste), 9. Sc. reist. [OE. wrist, = OFris. wrist, -wirst (in hand-, fôt-wirst), -werst (in fôt-werst), -riust (NFris. wrast, wrest), MLG. wrist (LG. wrist, wirst, rüst), MDu. wrist, MHG. rist m., riste f. (G. rist m., instep, wrist), ON. rist f., instep (Da., Sw. vrist, Norw. vrist, rist), prob. f. wrið-, weak grade of the stem of wríðan WRITHE v.]
1. Anat. That part of the human frame between the fore-arm and the metacarpus; the joint by which the hand is united to the fore-arm; the carpus, or radio-carpal joint, of primates.
Cf. arm-wrist (ARM sb.1 III), HAND-WRIST.
α. a. 940[?]. Laws Athelstan, in Liebermann, I. 386/1. Ʒif hit anfeald tyhtle sy, dufe seo hand æfter þam stane oð þa wriste.
c. 1325. in Rel. Ant., II. 78. The virste, la coude de la mein.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1535. Non oþer forme bot a fust faylande þe wryste.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, IX. 2258. He heeld … Hand and fyngres aboue the coles briht, Til the ioyntes fallyng heer & yonder, From the wirste [v.rr. wrest, wrost, wristis] departid wer assonder.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 534. Wryst, or wyrste of an hande, fragus.
1530. Palsgr., 290. Wrist of ones hande, poignet.
1574. Sackville, Induct. Mirr. Mag., lxvii. Cassandra … they haled From Pallas house,… Her wrists fast bound.
1600. Hakluyt, Voy., III. 49. An eare as bigge as the wrist of a mans arme.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., IX. 204. The Doctor fairly twisted his wrists.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 515, ¶ 3. The fan can play without any force … but just of the wrist.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 37. A substance … as thick as one’s wrist.
1813. J. Thomson, Lect. Inflam., 211. The pulse in the wrist was scarcely to be felt.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 433. [Taking] her dear hands … about each little wrist.
1875. Encycl. Brit., I. 828. The wrist of the orang, gibbon, the tailed apes.
β. 13[?]. Sir Beues (A.), 1769. Beues smot … is left hande be þe wrest.
14[?]. [see α].
a. 1513. Fabyan, Chron., VII. (1811), 393. The whiche … had theyr ryght handes smyten of by the wrestes.
1548. Patten, Exped. Scotl., K vj. Both his handes cut of by the wreasts.
1622. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 354. Fastening Cords to the wrests of mine arme.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 184. The axillary artery … passing by the wrest or place of the pulse.
1788. Vallancey, Voc. Bargie, in Trans. R. Irish Acad., II. 34. Wraste, the wrist.
b. Without article.
1686. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 422. 3 Payres of black Buttons for wrist and neck.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xvi. I’ll bracelet him with iron both on wrist and ankle.
c. transf. That part of a garment, sleeve, or glove, which covers the wrist.
1828. Lady’s Mag., Aug., 446/1. The cuffs at the wrists of all gowns.
1873. Susan Coolidge, What Katy did, iii. 44. She … adjusted her veil and the wrists of her three-buttoned gloves.
2. † a. The joint of the thigh or knee. (Cf. OE. cnéow-wyrst.) Obs.–1
c. 1450. St. Cuthbert (Surtees), 5850. Men wend his the [= thigh] bane had bryst; He had na harme in bane ne wrist.
b. The ankle; the instep. Usu. wrist of the foot. Now dial.
c. 1530. Hickscorner (c. 1550), B ij. Frewyll. But can they go no more. Imag. O no man, the wrest is twyst so sore.
1547. in Leland, Collectanea (1774), IV. 321. He … tyed himselfe … a little beneath the Wrist of the Foot.
1563. T. Gale, Antidot., II. 22. Thys vnguent must be applyed vppon … the wreste of the handes, the wreste of the foote [etc.].
1612. Shelton, Quix. (1620), II. 169. About the Wrists of her Legs … she wore two … Bracelets.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man (1631), 1005. The Tarsus or wrest of the Foot.
1658. A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., II. xxv. 152. The bone of the Foots wrist.
1825. Jamieson, Suppl., Reist, the instep. Upp[er] Clydes[dale].
1894. Northumbld. Gloss., 799. Wrist-o’-the-foot, the ankle.
3. Comp. Anat., A part or joint analogous or answering to the wrist in man: a. The carpus or carpal joint in birds. b. The knee or knee-joint in the fore-legs of animals. c. Ichth. (See first quot.)
a. a. 1843. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VII. 327. The Wrist of Birds consists of but two bones.
1854. Owen, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 211. That [carpal bone] on the radial side of the wrist [in Crocodilia] is the largest.
1890. Mivart, Dogs, Jackals, etc., 6. Vertically from the wrist up the front of the [wolf’s] leg.
c. 1840. Cuvier’s Anim. Kingd., 308. [In] some spinous fishes the carpal bones are so elongated as to form a sort of arm or wrist, to the extremity of which the pectoral fin is articulated. Ibid. Fishes with Wrists to the Pectoral Fins.
1854. Owen, in Orr’s Circ. Sci., Org. Nat., I. 176. The carpal bones of these fins … increasing in length from the ulnar to the radial side of the wrist.
4. a. Mech. One of the partitions of the bucket of an overshot water-wheel. ? Obs.
1797. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3), XVIII. 903/2. We have heard them named the Start or Shoulder, the Arm, and the Wrest (probably for wrist, on account of a resemblance of the whole line to the human arm).
1829. Nat. Philos., Mechanics, v. 20 (L.U.K.). This bucket is formed of three planes;… BC is called the arm, and CH the wrist.
b. A pin or stud, projecting from the side of a wheel, crank, etc., to which a connecting rod is attached; a wrist-pin.
1864. Webster.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 1720/1. Pitman-box, the stirrup and brasses which embrace the wrist of the driving-wheel. Ibid. (1884), Suppl. 229/2. A wrist on a crank wheel.
c. Naut. (See quot.)
1863. A. Young, Naut. Dict. (ed. 2), 450. Wrist of an anchor, the continuation of the arm in a square or rounded form towards the palm or fluke.
5. attrib., as wrist connection, end, power; freq. in sense ‘worn about or depending from the wrist,’ as wrist-bag, -cord, † favo(u)r, -iron, -plaster, etc.
1904. Daily Chron., 28 Jan., 6/5. The sums stolen out of the *‘wrist bag’ purses.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2822/2. A pin passing through the axis of a *wrist-connection.
1865. Tylor, Early Hist. Man., viii. 201. A well-known New Zealand weapon … is an edged club of bone or stone…. Through the neck it has a hole for a *wrist-cord.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 521. The *wrist end of the ulna.
1626. Middleton, Anything for Quiet Life, III. i. A fine *wrist-favour of this gold.
1871. Archaeologia, XLIII. 426. Stone *Wrist-guards…. Those [plates] of finely-grained green stone … appear to be intended to be worn on the wrist.
1885. Runciman, Skippers & Sh., 83. We divides the sets of *wrist-irons.
1725. Fam. Dict., s.v. Eye, Mix all these together … to a Consistence fit for a *Wrist-plaister.
1897. Ranjitsinhji, Cricket, 165. Every player who has much *wrist-power.
1901. Scribner’s Mag., April, 408/1. Big policemen, swinging their clubs by the *wrist-straps.
b. In sense ‘of or pertaining to a wrist-band or sleeve-cuff,’ as wrist-button, -link, -stud.
1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., xxx. 315. His wrist-buttons, his shirt-studs, the camelia in his coat.
1859. Habits of Good Society, iii. 142. Elaborate studs … and wrist-links, are all abominable.
1865. Le Fanu, Guy Dev., II. 38. Having buttoned his jewelled wrist-studs in.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2822/2. Wrist-link, a link with connected buttons for the wristband or cuff.
c. In Cricket, etc., in the sense ‘effected or directed by means of wrist-work,’ as wrist hit, -play (hence wrist-player, -playing), shot, stroke.
1862. Pycroft, Cricket Tutor, 19. Throwing back the bat to the bails … necessitates good wrist-play.
1867. J. Lillywhite’s Cricketer’s Comp., 105. A. G. Lee, capital wrist player.
1888. Steel & Lyttelton, Cricket, 42. Players are not equally good both at the forward driving and the wrist-playing games.
1895. Kipling, Day’s Work, Maltese Cat. Hughes made some sort of quick wrist-stroke [in polo].
1900. Westm. Gaz., 16 April, 2/1. The cut was not a wrist hit, but a vehement exhibition of energy. Ibid. (1906), 21 March, 10/1. A wrist shot that was remarkable.
d. Special Combs., as † wrist-bender, a muscle that bends or controls the wrist; wrist-bone, any one of the small bones of the wrist; a carpal bone; wrist clonus Path., spasmodic contraction of the muscles of the hand, produced by sudden backward pressure; wrist-drop Path., an affection marked by inability to extend the hand and fingers, resulting from paralysis of the forearm extensor muscles; also attrib.; wrist-fall, a drooping ruff or band (cf. FALL sb.1 23 c) formerly worn about the wrist; wrist-guide (see quots.); wrist jerk Path., wrist clonus; wrist-pin Mech., = WRIST 4 b; also Comb.; wrist-plate Mech., an oscillating plate bearing one or more crank-pins or wrists on its face (Cent. Dict.); wrist-watch, a small watch worn in a wristlet or strap around the wrist; wrist-work, flexure of the wrist, as in batting.
1634. T. Johnson, Parey’s Chirurg. Wks., 222. Both the Carpiflexores, or *Wrest-benders, arise from the … inner processe.
1552. Huloet, *Wreast bone of the hand, or arme, brachiale.
1612. Peacham, Gentl. Exerc., ix. 29. The brawne of the arme must appeare full, shadowed on one side, then shew the wrist bone therof.
1825. Scott, Talism., ii. The wrist-bones peculiarly large and strong.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 42. Two little carpal bones, or wrist-bones.
1889. Buck’s Handbk. Med. Sci., VIII. 33/2. Odd cases of supernumerary wrist-bones. Ibid. (1888), VI. 771/2. A *wrist clonus may be produced by a … forcible hyperextension of the wrist.
a. 1841. Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VII. 522. One of these consequences [of the use of lead] is … *wrist-drop.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 693. The two commonest varieties—the wrist-drop type and the upper arm type.
1890. Amelia E. Barr, Olivia, iii. The lace *wrist-falls and neck-bands.
1861. J. S. Adams, 5000 Mus. Terms, 108. *Wrist Guide, that part of Logier’s Chiroplast which guides the wrist.
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, 90. The wrist-guide, by which the position of the wrist was preserved [in piano-playing] from inclination outwards.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VI. 700. The *wrist and elbow jerks. Ibid., VII. 191.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2822. The *wrist-pin is a truncate, conical, tubular piece attached to the crank-wheel by a bolt. Ibid., Wrist-pin Turner, a machine for turning wrist-pins … or [for] the turning of journals.
1896. Baden-Powell, Matabele Campaign, iv. Field-glasses, *wrist-watch, buckles, and buttons should be dulled.
1898. Ranjitsinhji, With Stoddart’s Team, vii. 103. His cutting was hard and full of *wrist work.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 3 June, 3/2. There was any amount of wrist-work in his cutting.
