grapple
English
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Alternative forms
- graple (obsolete)
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: grăpʹəl, IPA(key): /ˈɡɹæpəl/
Audio (CA) (file) Audio (AU) (file) - Rhymes: -æpəl
- Hyphenation: grap‧ple
Etymology 1
From Middle English *grapplen (“to seize, lay hold of”), from Old English *græpplian (“to seize”) (compare Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”)), from Proto-Germanic *graipilōną, *grabbalōną (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *ghreb(h)-, *ghrab(h)- (“to take, seize, rake”), equivalent to grab + -le. Cognate with Dutch grabbelen (“to grope, scramble, scrabble”), German grabbeln (“to rummage, grope about”) and grapsen, grapschen (“to seize, grasp, grabble”). Influenced in some senses by grapple (“tool with claws or hooks”, noun) (see below). See further at grasp.
Verb
grapple (third-person singular simple present grapples, present participle grappling, simple past and past participle grappled)
- (transitive) To seize something and hold it firmly.
- (transitive, figuratively) Normally used with with: to ponder and intensely evaluate a problem.
- to grapple with one's conscience
- (transitive) To fasten, as with a grapple; to fix; to join indissolubly.
- Hakluyt
- The gallies were grappled to the Centurion.
- Shakespeare
- Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.
- Hakluyt
- (intransitive) To use a grapple.
- (intransitive) To wrestle or tussle.
Translations
Etymology 2
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From Middle English *grapple, *graple, from Old French grappil (“a ship's grapple”) (compare Old French grappin (“hook”)), from Old French grape, grappe, crape (“hook”), of Germanic origin, from Old Frankish *krappō (“hook”), from Proto-Germanic *krappô, *krappą (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *grep- (“hook”), *gremb- (“crooked, uneven”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to turn, bend, twist”). See further at grape.
Noun
grapple (countable and uncountable, plural grapples)