vise

noun

1. (US)An instrument consisting of two jaws, closing by a screw, lever, cam, or the like, for holding work, as in filing.

   “Clamp this loop in a strong vise and twist the two ends evenly into one piece. As the twisting progresses, move the wire along so as to keep the grip of the vise close to the hands.”

2. (figuratively)A situation in which one's freedom of choice is constrained.

   “I'd like to know what would become of us in the next ten minutes. They've got us in a vise. We're done for, Gall.”

3. (obsolete)A screw.
4. (obsolete)A spiral staircase.

verb

1. To clamp with or as with a vise.

   “He looked to see the secretary, vised and crackled in those arms, drop limp and senseless.”

   “Repeat this step to make the bend at the other 39-inch mark being careful that it is also at a 90° angle to the vised pipe, and also parallel to the first bend.”

   ““There's my girl,” he whispered. He reached back to lift each of her legs to vise her knees under his arms.”

   “I do clearly remember the last part of that conversation, because it involved Athena promising that the next time she saw me, she was going to vise my jaws open and shit down my throat.”

2. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of visé.

   “It was the hour in which all who had affairs to arrange with the Austrian ambassador, passports to vise, contracts to sign,were allowed entrance, and it was the baron's duty to receive them.”

   “The latest published correspondence on the subject is in the case of Waix, an American citizen of the Jewish race, who applied to the Russian consul general in New York to vise his passport, in order that he might visit Russia.”

   “At Manchouli, it was said, ViceConsul Ishida and Chancellor Teng requested the local Soviet Consulate to vise their passports, but the Soviet consulate authorities unreasonably declined to comply with the request.”

name

1. A surname.