Wrestle
['res(ə)l] or ['rɛsl]
Definition
(noun.) the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat; 'they had a fierce wrestle'; 'we watched his grappling and wrestling with the bully'.
(verb.) engage in deep thought, consideration, or debate; 'I wrestled with this decision for years'.
(verb.) combat to overcome an opposing tendency or force; 'He wrestled all his life with his feeling of inferiority'.
(verb.) engage in a wrestling match; 'The children wrestled in the garden'.
Inputed by Jeff--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To contend, by grappling with, and striving to trip or throw down, an opponent; as, they wrestled skillfully.
(v. t.) Hence, to struggle; to strive earnestly; to contend.
(v. t.) To wrestle with; to seek to throw down as in wrestling.
(n.) A struggle between two persons to see which will throw the other down; a bout at wrestling; a wrestling match; a struggle.
Typist: Wanda
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. Contend, strive, struggle.
Typed by Camilla
Definition
v.i. to contend by grappling and trying to throw the other down: to struggle: to apply one's self keenly to: (Scot.) to pray earnestly.—v.t. to contend with in wrestling.—n. a bout at wrestling: a struggle between two to throw each other down.—ns. Wrest′ler; Wrest′ling the sport or exercise of two persons struggling to throw each other to the ground in an athletic contest governed by certain fixed rules—catch-hold ground-wrestling catch-as-catch-can back-hold &c.
Editor: Vince
Examples
- After a moment's wrestle with him, Flintwinch gave up, and put his hands in his pockets. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- In her soul she began to wrestle, and she was frightened. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- One ought to wrestle and strive and be physically close. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Mr. Micawber kissed her hand, retired to the window, and pulling out his pocket-handkerchief, had a mental wrestle with himself. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- He could have settled her with a well-planted blow; but he would not strike: he would only wrestle. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Come on, my enemy; we have yet to wrestle for our lives; but many hard and miserable hours must you endure, until that period shall arrive. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- To advance along smooth and pleasant paths, to encounter no obstacles, to wrestle with no difficulties and hardships--such has absolutely no fascination to him. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- St. Clare could say but little; he lay with his eyes shut, but it was evident that he wrestled with bitter thoughts. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Truly, I was mad that night-- love--which I have named a giant from its birth, wrestled with despair! Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Till break of day she wrestled with God in earnest prayer. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- It was weeks and months that Tom wrestled, in his own soul, in darkness and sorrow. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Every joy that life gives must be earned ere it is secured; and how hardly earned, those only know who have wrestled for great prizes. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- So the two men entwined and wrestled with each other, working nearer and nearer. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Running, wrestling, cudgel-playing, throwing the javelin, drawing the bow, etc. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling, which has more than once been very useful to me. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- The real activity was this ghastly wrestling for death in his own soul. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- As he was fast making jam of his fruit by wrestling with the door while the paper-bags were under his arms, I begged him to allow me to hold them. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- What might have been, for anything I knew, a silence of days, weeks, months, years, was broken by a violent wrestling of men all over the room. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Only by wrestling with the conditions of the problem at first hand, seeking and finding his own way out, does he think. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- The back door was open, and as he came to the foot of the stairs he saw two men wrestling together outside. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
Edited by Bryan