Wrens

[renz]

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. the Women's Royal Naval Service: established in 1917 as an auxiliary to the Royal Navy.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Wrens¹

Pronounced form of the initial letters, with placement of vowel suggested by wren

Example Sentences

Wrens "are very flighty," he says with a laugh.

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By the time of the Normandy landings, Lamb had been doing her part to defeat the Nazis for almost five years as member of the Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as the Wrens.

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Just before the beginning of World War Two, she had intended to go to university in Oxford, but when war broke out she changed her plans and joined the Wrens - the Women's Royal Naval Service.

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The bitterness of that remains, especially because women’s contributions to the war effort came too late for many of her fellow Wrens.

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All those conversations paid off in 1942, when Owtram applied to join the Women’s Royal Naval Service, known as the Wrens, and a test showed that she was fluent in German.

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