What does vise mean?
Vise most commonly denotes a sturdy clamping tool used by carpenters, metalworkers, machinists, and other craftspeople. Its jaws close around an object so that it can be cut, drilled, filed, or otherwise worked safely. In American English, this tool is usually called a vise, while British English commonly uses vice for the same object. Vise also has a rare, archaic American spelling for moral vice, meaning habitual wrongdoing, and can function as a verb meaning to grip tightly or to examine something closely, though those verb uses now sound chiefly dialectal or literary. The word is useful because it belongs to several semantic worlds at once: practical workshop terminology, formal discussion of ethics, and older regional usage. Its principal modern sense is practical rather than figurative, but a phrase such as being caught in a vise can evoke confinement, pressure, or a difficult situation in which something is firmly held.
A tool with two jaws that close around an object to hold it securely while it is worked on. In a rare and archaic American usage, vise is also a spelling of vice meaning moral wrongdoing.
"The metalworker placed the bar in the vise and tightened both handles."
The clamping-tool sense is standard American English. The moral sense is rare and archaic.
To grip or hold something tightly, or to study or examine something closely.
"The detective vised the letter for traces of alteration."
Chiefly dialectal or literary; the phrase "vise closely" is especially associated with careful examination.
The standard plural of the tool noun is vises.
"The workshop contains several vises of different sizes."
Vise is the American name for what British English usually calls a vice—and its name shares a surprising root with words for growing grapevines.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does vise come from?
The tool name developed through Middle English vice, borrowed from Old French vis and ultimately from Latin vitis, meaning a vine or grapevine tendril. The spelling vise became standard in American English, while vice remained the usual British spelling for the tool. The moral sense has a separate origin in Latin vitium, meaning fault or vice, and reached English through Old French; vise survives chiefly as an archaic American spelling of that word.
Related word forms
How vise is actually used
The tool noun is standard American English, whereas the verb senses are now chiefly dialectal or literary and may sound deliberately old-fashioned. The moral noun sense is rare and archaic.
Easily confused with vise
In British English, vice is the usual spelling for the clamping tool, while in American English vise is standard; vice more commonly denotes moral wrongdoing in American usage.