Spannered

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Having a wrench tool attached or provided ; having been hit by or struck with a wrench tool
2. Fitted with a device used for turning nuts and bolts ; having received a blow from such a tool
3. Supplied or furnished with a spanner for mechanical use ; subjected to impact caused by a spanner

Etymology: "Spannered" is the past tense and past participle of "spanner," the British word for what Americans call a wrench. The noun "spanner" dates from the 1830s and comes from the verb "span," which in this sense meant to grip or hold fast. The name is a little odd, since a spanner is not really a span of anything, but the link to "span" in the sense of grasping is the one the dictionaries give. As a verb, "to spanner" is a later, looser extension, used in the sense of hitting or working on something with a spanner. The adjective use, "spannered," is mostly a participle that has come to describe something that has been fixed, damaged, or struck with a spanner, and it is far more common in informal British speech than in writing.