wrest

wrest \rest\, verb:

1. to take away by force: to wrest a knife from a child.
2. to twist or turn; pull, jerk, or force by a violent twist.
3. to get by effort: to wrest a living from the soil.
4. to twist or turn from the proper course, application, use, meaning, or the like; wrench.

noun:
1. a wresting; twist or wrench.
2. a key or small wrench for tuning stringed musical instruments, as the harp or piano, by turning the pins to which the strings are fastened.

Can I possibly go back and wrest from my past some remnant of a better beginning?

-- Ken Kesey, Sometimes a Great Notion, 2006

He could wrest beauty from anything.

-- Fiona Maazel, Last Last Chance, 2009

From the Old Norse wreista meaning "to bend, twist," wrest shares its origin with the word wrist.