Grapple
['græp(ə)l] or ['græpl]
Definition
(verb.) to grip or seize, as in a wrestling match; 'the two men grappled with each other for several minutes'.
Edited by Henry--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To seize; to lay fast hold of; to attack at close quarters: as, to grapple an antagonist.
(v. t.) To fasten, as with a grapple; to fix; to join indissolubly.
(v. i.) To use a grapple; to contend in close fight; to attach one's self as if by a grapple, as in wrestling; to close; to seize one another.
(v. t.) A seizing or seizure; close hug in contest; the wrestler's hold.
(v. t.) An instrument, usually with hinged claws, for seizing and holding fast to an object; a grab.
(v. t.) A grappling iron.
Inputed by Jarvis
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. Seize, gripe, grasp, catch, clasp, clutch, lay hold of.
n. [1]. Close hug, close fight.[2]. Grappling-irons.
Edited by Enrico
Synonyms and Antonyms
[See CONTEND]
Checker: Lucille
Definition
v.t. to seize: to lay fast hold of.—v.i. to contend in close fight.—ns. Grapp′lement (Spens.) a grappling close fight; Grapp′ling-ī′ron a large grapnel for seizing hostile ships in naval engagements.
Edited by Donnie
Examples
- O death and change, rulers of our life, where are ye, that I may grapple with you! Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- We are going to grapple for the bucket at six o'clock tonight at her house, and you could lend a hand. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Church and monarchs in their mutual grapple for power were both calling to their aid the thoughts of the common man. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Traction is then made on the chains controlling the jaws, which close; the grapple is hoisted to the surface and its contents discharged into scows alongside the dredge. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- This with its attachments is called the grapple. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- My own unaided ingenuity, consulted next, proved quite unequal to grapple with the difficulty. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Whether a prisoner could scale the walls with a cord and grapple, how he would descend upon the other side? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- Then as now, the propositions brought to Edison ranged over every conceivable subject, but the years have taught him caution in grappling with them. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- To all other emergencies and complications my natural capacity for grappling, single-handed, with circumstances, was invariably equal. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- There was but a yard between the two mighty ships as the first grappling irons were hurled. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- Going to another extreme, we find Edison grappling with one of the biggest problems known to the authorities of New York--the disposal of its heavy snows. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- No man may say with certainty what thought was uppermost in Goethe’s mind when, grappling in the final struggle with the King of Terrors, he exclaimed Mehr licht! Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- He's been under water a long time, Miss; but they've grappled up the body. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Mr. Rochester flung me behind him: the lunatic sprang and grappled his throat viciously, and laid her teeth to his cheek: they struggled. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- You should not have yielded: you should have grappled with her at once, said Mr. Rochester. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- She stopped in speechless agitation, not crying, but feeling as if she were being inwardly grappled. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- It closed with her in the darkness like some formless evil to be blindly grappled with. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Scarcely a substance herself, she grapples to conflict with abstractions. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
Inputed by Logan