means A spanner is a hand tool with shaped jaws or a hole for gripping and turning nuts, bolts, or other fasteners — what British English calls a wrench.

from From the German 'Spanner,' literally 'one that tightens or stretches,' from 'spannen,' to tighten or span — the same family that gives English 'span.' It came into English in the early 19th century as a name for the tool that winds a spring or screws things tight. The saboteur's reputation arrived later, in the phrase 'a spanner in the works,' picturing a stray tool dropped into machinery to jam it.