Meaning
Disrupt a plan or process by introducing an unexpected difficulty. An everyday informal metaphor. Put is at least as common as throw in modern use. Regional use: United Kingdom and Commonwealth; wrench is the usual North American substitution.
Origin
The image is of a spanner jamming machinery. Closely related wording, a spanner in the gears, appears in a 1932 New Zealand parliamentary debate, and P. G. Wodehouse used spanner into her works in 1934. The familiar form therefore belongs to the early 1930s; stories assigning it to a much earlier named incident lack documentary support.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- A spanner in the works
- Put a spanner in the works
- Throw a wrench in the works
Usage Examples
- The cancelled ferry threw a spanner in the works for everyone travelling to the island.
- A late change to the licence terms could put a spanner in the works.