Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to find oneself in trouble, in an unpleasant situation; note extrapolations in cits. 1975 and 1986.

1948		H. McCoy Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye in Four Novels (1983) 165: He’s just another crooked cop who got caught in the wringer. [Ibid.] 222: I’m the one who’s got his things caught in this wringer, not you.
1952		H. McCoy Corruption City 14: Then why get yourself caught in a wringer.
1955		B. Schulberg On the Waterfront (1964) 212: Aah, screw [...] If he wants to get his balls in a wringer, that’s his business.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 88: My balls is in the wringer and you turning the handle.
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 193: A person has a chance to use a little juice, pull a couple wires, keep his balls out of the wringer, he’s going to do it.

(orig. US) to pressurize, to subject to severe interrogation, to enforce harsh treatment.

1911		S. Ford Torchy 190: That begins the talk. I ain’t put through the wringer [...] but just follows Zenobia while she goes from one thing to another, givin’ her opinions of ’em and now and then callin’ for mine.
1942		Sun (Baltimore) 20 June 15/1: With its capitalization put through the wringer through reorganization...the Erie board voted a payment of 550 cents a share [OED].
1956		J. Stearn Sisters of the Night 73: Most of the prostitutes in Women’s Court looked as if they had been put through a wringer.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 97: The razzing was nothing serious – except for the last week [...] the initiation week, Hell Week. Those motherfuckers ran us through the wringer like we were supposed to come out of it brain-damaged.
1997		G. Sikes 8 Ball Chicks (1998) 264: The driving instructor took one look at the tattoo on her forehead and really put Shygirl through the ringer, gave her the longest test.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 40: There’s a question of directionality, of who puts whose dick in the wringer.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 252: ‘You look like you’re being put through a wringer, most days’.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 231: ‘[A] motor cop I know told me it [i.e. police work] put your dicks in the wringer’.