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• vise
  vise

  noun

  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.
• visé
  visé

  noun

  visa.

vise

¹ American  

[vahys] / vaɪs /

Or vice

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, vising

1. to hold, press, or squeeze with or as with a vise.

visé ² American  

[vee-zay, vee-zay] / ˈvi zeɪ, viˈzeɪ /

noun

viséed, viséing

1. visa.

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vise British  

/ vaɪs /

noun

1. a variant spelling of vice 2

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Other Word Forms

• viselike
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of vise¹

1300–50; Middle English vis < Old French: screw < Latin vītis vine (whose spiral form gave later sense)

Origin of visé²

< French, past participle of viser to inspect, check; see visa

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Explanation

If you’re going to be doing a lot of woodworking, you’ll probably need a vise, a tool used to clamp pieces of wood in place while you work on them. The word vise came into English through the French word vis, meaning “screw.” Picture yourself winding a lever that screws the jaws of a vise shut, and you’ll understand what it’s like to operate a vise. Remember to spell the word with an s, as not to confuse it with sound-alike vice, which can refer to a destructive habit that you’d like to break. The two words are unrelated in meaning.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

vise visé viséed viséing vised vising

Gulf officials and analysts warn the tightening vise could instead provoke more Iranian retaliation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2026

Koufax created a vise between his middle finger and the knuckle on his ring finger.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2024

“It’s like having a big block of ice in a vise and you are just slowly cranking up the vise,” he said.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 5, 2024

It’s no cause for alarm, but it felt as if a vise were being twisted tighter and tighter around my chest.

From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2023

A hammer intends to strike, a vise intends to hold fast, a lever intends to lift.

From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman

This, the United States Lines contended, often worked an injustice, because immigrants might book passage, sell their homes, and then discover that the consul would not visé their passports.

From Time Magazine Archive

In like manner, any labourer leaving Paris with a passport must obtain the visé of the police to his livret, which, in fact, contains an abstract history of his industrial life.

From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 421 Volume 17, New Series, January 24, 1852 by William Chambers

He was already scratching his visé upon her passport.

From With the French in France and Salonika by Richard Harding Davis

I had no visé for Tuscany then, and the Austrian police are very strict; but Marston proposed to pass me off for one of the steamer's officers.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 2, No. 14, December 1858 by Various

Everybody was begging for a visé on one pretext or another, and most of them were being turned down.

From A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson

He struck a smarter gait, but to me it seemed a year ere he reappeared with a pass viséed, and handed it to me.

From The Reckoning by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

Our passports have been handed in to the police station to be viséed and put in order for our return trip to Bucharest.

From Trapped in 'Black Russia' Letters June-November 1915 by Ruth Pierce

After our papers have been viséed at the office of the commandant, we hurried back to our machines, eager to be away again.

From High Adventure A Narrative of Air Fighting in France by James Norman Hall

Yes, Robin had a passport, but it was not viséed for Holland.

From The Yellow Streak by Valentine Williams

You shall have it back properly viséed by nine o'clock to-morrow morning.

From The Yellow Streak by Valentine Williams

We have already recommended charging consuls with viséing certificates from police, medical, and poor-relief authorities.

From The Unpopular Review, Volume II Number 3 by Various

On the present occasion, the Hamburger was detained a considerable time, whilst I exercised, at my leisure, my belligerent right of viséing his papers.

From Memoirs of Service Afloat, During the War Between the States by Raphael Semmes

It is well built on narrow streets, like nearly all Italian cities, and manifests considerable activity in the way of watching gates and viséing Passports.

From Glances at Europe In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851. by Horace Greeley

The French insisted on viséing our papers in order to show their authority and because they needed the ten francs.

From The New Frontiers of Freedom from the Alps to the Ægean by E. Alexander (Edward Alexander) Powell

Much higher bills were seen at less frequently vised restaurants, like Chick-fil-A, Capriotti’s and Taco Bell, which cost the state about $25,100, $20,300 and $13,300, respectively.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 26, 2019

The current owner, Barbara Jenik, opened the door, an aggrieved Chihuahua vised into her armpit.

From New York Times ● Nov. 28, 2017

Methodism, vised by its geographical Bishop, promised to repay the money owed you.

From Time Magazine Archive

John McCoy, finding his right arm vised between the girder and the roof of his cab, let out a yell that brought firemen, a priest and a doctor.

From Time Magazine Archive

You seem almost a man these days, Jeth; even yore hair ain’t quite as yaller and curly as it vised to be.”

From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt

There is just time left to confirm that Anderson and Piper are both more regular customers at Pizza Express than Prince Andrew, who famously told Maitlis about vising the chain.

From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2024

Opposition politicians also are vising the region en masse, with the Republican People’s party leader Ozgur Ozel attending the commemorations in Hatay before travelling to Gaziantep and Kahramanmaras.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

Tile drains are then placed directly under the curb line and a 6×16-in. curb is constructed, vising 1-2-4 concrete faced with 1-2 mortar.

From Concrete Construction Methods and Costs by Halbert Powers Gillette

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