Word.ws English Dictionary

crescent spanner

crescent spanner noun: an open-end adjustable spanner with a worm-drive thumbwheel. When the term adjustable spanner or adjustable wrench is used, this type (branded with any of many brands) is usually the type meant.

crescent spanner: an open-end adjustable spanner with a worm-drive thumbwheel. When the term adjustable spanner or...
Image: CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

crescent spanner (plural crescent spanners)

  1. (Australia, New Zealand, broadly, idiomatic, informal) An open-end adjustable spanner with a worm-drive thumbwheel. When the term adjustable spanner or adjustable wrench is used, this type (branded with any of many brands) is usually the type meant.
    Synonyms:
    crescent wrench
  2. (informal) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: any spanner made by the namesake company, which makes many tools.
    Synonyms:
    crescent wrench

Noun (2) capitalized: Crescent spanner

Crescent spanner (plural Crescent spanners)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of crescent spanner.

Synonyms of crescent spanner

Forms of crescent spanner

pluralcrescent spanners
pluralCrescent spanners

Origin of crescent spanner

A genericization of the trade name of a company famous for making them (although it did not invent them); details are at Wikipedia. The trademark is still protected, and this genericized term is only informal and loose. Compare kleenex and coke.

Questions about crescent spanner

What does crescent spanner mean?
Crescent spanner means an open-end adjustable spanner with a worm-drive thumbwheel. When the term adjustable spanner or adjustable wrench is used, this type (branded with any of many brands) is usually the type meant.
What part of speech is crescent spanner?
Crescent spanner is a noun.
What is the plural of crescent spanner?
The plural of crescent spanner is crescent spanners.

Words near crescent spanner in the dictionary

  1. Crescent Mills
  2. crescent moon
  3. crescent moons
  4. crescent roll
  5. crescent rolls
  6. crescent spanner
  7. crescent spanners
  8. Crescent Springs
  9. Crescent Valley
  10. crescent wrench
  11. crescent-shaped

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crescent spanner (page history and authors); Crescent spanner (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: EN-AU ck1 crescent spanner.ogg.

Cite this entry: “crescent spanner.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crescent_spanner. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.