through wringer

noun

a person or thing that wrings.

an apparatus or machine for squeezing liquid out of anything wet, as two rollers through which an article of wet clothing may be squeezed.

a painful, difficult, or tiring experience; ordeal (usually preceded by through the ): His child's illness really put him through the wringer.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English; see wring, -er¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

wringer (ˈrɪŋə)

—n
	another name for mangle

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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00:10

Through wringer is always a great word to know.

So is flibbertigibbet. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

Matching Quote

"Father Latour judged that, just as it was the white man's way to assert himself in any landscape, to change it, make it over a little (at least to leave some mark of memorial of his sojourn), it was the Indian's way to pass through a country without disturbing anything; to pass and leave no trace, like fish through the water, or birds through the air.
It was the Indian manner to vanish into the landscape, not to stand out against it."

-Willa Cather

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through wringer

wring·er