/ring"euhr/ , n.
1. a person or thing that wrings.
2. an apparatus or machine for squeezing liquid out of anything wet, as two rollers through which an article of wet clothing may be squeezed.
3. a painful, difficult, or tiring experience; ordeal (usually prec. by through the ): His child's illness really put him through the wringer.
[ 1250-1300; ME; see WRING, -ER 1 ]