monkeywrenchv.

1904 W. N. Harben Georgians 267 He..dug down in the road whar his pipe j'ined the main, till he got to it, an' then he monkey-wrenched it off.

1993 Westcoast Logger Feb. 6/2 The program owns its own machinery, I-D4E Cat..and a crew-cab. Needless to say there are many hours spent monkey-wrenching and welding to keep this tired iron running.

1912 State (Columbia, S. Carolina) 5 May i. 4/6 It may have ‘wrenched’ Mr. Taft's soul, but it did not prevent him from monkey-wrenching the Colonel's record.

1937 Los Angeles Times 7 Feb. d8/1 Now, unknown to Mr. Gable, a very festive table was being prepared for him by his studio friends... His appearance nearly monkey-wrenched the plans.

1955 Sat. Evening Post 20 Aug. 62 Monkey-wrenching the Strip. That's the beef Nick's getting.

1972 C. Carpentier Flight One ii. 103 He can monkey-wrench the whole thing.

1986 Washington Post 3 Aug. (Parade Suppl.) 9/2 He will monkey-wrench any deal with the Soviets that shows even a molecule of promise.

1983 [implied in: Los Angeles Times 20 May b11/1 Such acts are now called ‘eco-tage’ or ‘monkey-wrenching’. ‘We don't plan any monkey-wrenching here today,’ said David Foreman, one of the organizers of the demonstration. (at monkeywrenching n.)].

1986 Atlanta (Georgia) Jrnl. 30 Jan. c6/1 (heading) Militants ‘monkey wrench’ exploitation of nature. ‘Earth First!’ employs sabotage to defend wild area from change.

1987 Nation (N.Y.) 2 May 568/2 There are a number of ways to monkey wrench, not all of which involve destruction. ‘You could file an injunction against a timber sale,’ said Foreman.

1990 San Francisco Chron. 1 Jan. b3/4 A proposed freeway through a scenic Carmel canyon may be forever monkey-wrenched by a movement named Noel Mapstead.

1993 Guardian 10 July (Outlook section) 27/6 A CAT (earth mover) is just a large chunk of metal, probably from somewhere like Papua New Guinea... If you monkey wrench it, you're returning it.