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vise

or vice

[vahys]
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noun
  1. any of various devices, usually having two jaws that may be brought together or separated by means of a screw, lever, or the like, used to hold an object firmly while work is being done on it.
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verb (used with object), vised, vis·ing.
  1. to hold, press, or squeeze with or as with a vise.
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Origin of vise

1300–50; Middle English vis < Old French: screw < Latin vītis vine (whose spiral form gave later sense)
Related formsvise·like, adjective

visé

[vee-zey, vee-zey]
noun, verb (used with object), vi·séed, vi·sé·ing.
  1. visa.
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Origin of visé

< French, past participle of viser to inspect, check; see visa
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for vise

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The boards are then placed in a vise or clamp and allowed to remain there over night.

    Boys' Book of Model Boats

    Raymond Francis Yates

  • He licked his wide, cruel lips, seizing the girl's arms as in a vise.

    In the Orbit of Saturn

    Roman Frederick Starzl

  • His long, thin fingers were clutching her clasped hands as with a vise.

  • It seemed to me the most natural thing, when you'd got 'em in the vise, to keep them there.

    The Market-Place

    Harold Frederic

  • A good plan to judge of the proper height is to measure from the jaws of the vise.

British Dictionary definitions for vise

vise

noun, verb
  1. US a variant spelling of vice 2
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for vise

n.

c.1300, "device like a screw or winch for bending a crossbow or catapult," from Old French vis, viz "screw," from Latin vitis "vine, tendril of a vine," literally "that which winds," from root of viere "to bind, twist" (see withy). The meaning "clamping tool with two jaws closed by a screw" is first recorded c.1500.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper