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.
vise
1 American
[vahys]
/ vaɪs /
Or
vice
noun
verb (used with object)
vised,
vising
visé
2
American
[vee-zey, vee-zey]
/ ˈvi zeɪ, viˈzeɪ /
noun
viséed,
viséing
vise
British
/ vaɪs /
noun
Other Word Forms
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.
Vocabulary lists containing vise
The Bridge Home
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A Night Divided
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The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
State Legislatures are caught in a legal vise.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025
“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
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
It was a circular slab of stone, held upright in a vise and pierced with a ring of holes of diminishing sizes.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
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
His visé "Collat: & complet:" is seldom wanting and often bibliographical notes and references to authorities are added.
From Catalogue of the William Loring Andrews Collection of Early Books in the Library of Yale University by Addison Van Name
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
My home-circle was like a ring without its jewel, while I, an undenominated waif in search of a visé, was fluttering through the duchy of Baden.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 by Various
"I only arrived yesterday, and the police have not visé my passport."
From Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar Life by Thomas Wallace Knox
"It is not yet viséed by your consul," said the officer.
From The Goose Girl by Harold MacGrath
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
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
Sandy viséed Keith's accounts and took Keith's check for the balance, placing it to a personal account for Molly.
From Rimrock Trail by Joseph Allan Dunn
Had a good supper at the little hotel, had my papers viséed by the Belgian Consul, and at 6 o'clock yesterday morning was up and away, by way of Putte.
From A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson
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
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
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
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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
