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-zey, vee-zey] / 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; visa

Example Sentences

When she contracted Asian flu, the virus paralyzed her with “a vise cluster of migraines.”

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2025

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

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

Malcolm put a screw in the vise and filed away part of the head to show Mr. Taphouse what he meant.

From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman