wring out

wring out (third-person singular simple present wrings out, present participle wringing out, simple past and past participle wrung out) (transitive)

1. To squeeze (wet clothing or cloth), either by twisting with one's hands, or by passing it through a wringer, to remove the water.
2. To force someone to give (something), usually truth, or money.

   I couldn't help it. I had to tell him. He wrung it out of me.

   They wrung an extra $500 out of us for the transfer fees.

3. (aviation) To push (an aircraft) to its performance limits; to push the envelope.
   • 1951, Popular Science, March issue, page 46:

     Another difficulty has been that autopilots are designed for ordinary flying. They can't "wring out" a plane, being limited to about 45° in bank and pitch. Aerobatics are an impossibility.

   • 1983, Flying Magazine, June issue, page 94:

     Others listening to the conversation felt the same as I did, especially after having seen a local pilot really "wring" out the airplane at their local air show two weeks earlier.

   • 2012, Howard Brown, When I Get To Heaven, page 39:

     I had no conception of what it meant to ”wring out" an airplane until I rode with that magnificent man, and I can't remember his name. After he had scorched the paint off that AT-6, he very quietly said, ”Okay, take her back to the field."

• wring out one's sock