to wring
19
5.1
- verb
- /rɪŋ/
:
retorcerse las manos
- They will wring their hands when he loses his job.
- wring one's hands
By the way, our colleagues who toil in the fields of science wring their hands about many of the same concerns.
- By the way, our colleagues who toil in the fields of science wring their hands about many of the same concerns.
Examples
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And it's spreading around the world while we wring our hands trying to negotiate.
-
If it's out, you'll never be able to prove anything you heard... and you can go back to wringing your hands.
-
My grandmother looked at my mother and began to wring her hands repeatedly.
Fiction book (1996) -
I turned to look at my colleagues, wringing my hands with pleasure.
Fiction book (1993) -
"The professor was not wringing his hands, but his distress was fairly obvious."
Fiction book (1992) -
The next thing she knew, Olivia was standing over her, wringing her hands, and saying, "Netty, what happened?"
Fiction book (1995) -
"I don't have to tell you what it means," he said to Amatsia, wringing his hands.
Fiction book (1993) -
After a moment, Old Tim appears in the doorway, wringing his knit cap in his hands.
Fiction book (2001) -
But then Leonard glimpsed Sylvia in the bamboo chair, wringing her exquisitely manicured hands.
Fiction book (1996) -
Elicia was sitting at the kitchen table, wringing her hands, saying, "What am I going to do?"
Antonyms
Phrasal Verbs
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Surface Forms
Etymology
Wring comes from an old English word meaning 'to twist'. When people 'wring' their hands they twist and squeeze them because they feel very worried, so the word now means making that gesture of pain or worry.