the.com/socket wrench

means A tool with a ratcheting handle that grips interchangeable sockets to tighten or loosen nuts and bolts without being removed and repositioned after each turn.

from 'Socket' traces back to Old French 'soc,' a plowshare, via the diminutive 'soket' meaning little plowshare-like hollow — the idea being a hollow part shaped to receive and hold something else, which is exactly what the tool's cup-shaped head does to a bolt head. 'Wrench' comes from Old English 'wrencan,' to twist or wrench, the same root that gives us 'wring.' The ratcheting socket wrench itself is a more modern mechanical marriage of these two old words — ancient twisting, ancient holding, bolted together for the workbench.