spanner, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

spanner n.

also spanner-head

1. a fool; an unpleasant person.

1987		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 8: spanner – person who acts stupidly.
1990		T. Winton Human Torpedo 108: What is it with all those greaseball spanner-heads [...] You don’t go for dumb machos.
2004		C. Brookmyre Be My Enemy 242: You don’t think I’d entrust a spanner like Francis with the only set [of keys]?

2. a physically handicapped person.

2001

OnLine Dict. of Playground Sl. 🌐 spanner n. disabled person. For example ‘That Lionel Starkey, he’s such a spanner’.

drop a spanner (v.)

see under drop v.¹

throw a spanner in(to) the works (v.) (also throw a spanner in someone’s works, put a spanner in someone’s/the works) [var. on throw a (monkey) wrench into (the machinery) under monkey n.)]

to destroy or disable something that had hitherto been working perfectly, to ruin someone else’s plans or system; sometimes without spanner.

1923		Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 494: Only this afternoon my jinx gummed the game for me and threw a spanner into the prettiest little scenario you ever thought of.
1934		Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 115: He should have had sense enough to see that he was throwing a spanner into the works.
1940		E. Curry Hysterical Hist. of Aus. 41: The time has arriven, John, for muh to throw a spanner into the woiks.
1948		S.L. Elliott Rusty Bugles II v: I think it’s thrown a bit of a spanner in his works.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 127: I didn’t want to bung a spanner into her mood of bien être.
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 71: ‘Maybe she’s alive,’ said Wexford, more from a mischievous desire to throw a spanner in the works than from conviction.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 115: There’s just a chance that I might be able to throw a spanner in the works.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 87: There were others who were quite capable of putting spanners in Ally’s works.
1989		M. Dibdin Tryst 29: Jimmy, a plump toughie with curly fair hair [...] decided to throw a spanner in the works.
1997		‘Q’ Deadmeat 132: If the police raided the club, if they threw a spanner in the works [etc.].
2000		Guardian 14 Feb. 3: His big brother [...] tried to put a spanner in the works.
2018		G. Disher Kill Shot [ebook] ‘[T]he prison will be revoking Kramer’s day-release privileges, which will put a spanner in the works if he is up to anything’.