Jump To:

• 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.

---

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.

---

vise British  

/ vaɪs /

noun

1. a variant spelling of vice 2

---

Other Word Forms

• viselike
  adjective

---

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

---

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

State Legislatures are caught in a legal vise.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025

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

To the moody strains of Sheik’s alt-rock score, the vise of adolescence is captured in a story about pubescent youths rebelling against the warping will of adult hypocrisy and repression.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2023

Wall Street dropped after big U.S. companies delivered a mixed set of profit reports and rising Treasury yields tightened the vise further on the stock market.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 2023

He had Lee in a vise: Lee had a larger army in front of him and a larger army behind him.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

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

We accordingly returned to our hotel, and being again refused by the police the coveted visé into Hungary, we made up our minds to pursue our journey on the morrow towards Vienna.

From Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. II by G. R. (George Robert) Gleig

The British control officer told me that I really didn't need his visé, but that he would put it on anyway because it would make the passports look more imposing.

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

“If there are no longer French outposts at Saverne, you may demand a visé for your pass and continue south to Strasbourg.”

From The Maids of Paradise by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

"Without even looking at my Czecho-Slovak visé my club dues for 1918, and my inoculation receipt for typhoid and paratyphoid A and B?"

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 156, Jan. 1, 1919 by Various

"If you're going to Barbados, you'll have to have it viséed by the British Consul."

From Plotting in Pirate Seas by C. A. (Charles A.) Federer

"It is not yet viséed by your consul," said the officer.

From The Goose Girl by Harold MacGrath

At last I confronted the inspector, and was told that under the new regulations I should have had my Red Cross card viséed in Paris.

From Kings, Queens and Pawns An American Woman at the Front by Mary Roberts Rinehart

My man looked up in mild surprise, viséed the three papers without a word and handed them back in less time than it takes to tell it.

From A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson

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

From The Yellow Streak by Valentine Williams

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

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

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

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

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

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

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---