Return to Gripe (definition)

Gripe (?), n. [See Grype.] Zool.

A vulture; the griffin.

[Obs.]

Like a white hind under the gripe's sharp claws. Shak.

Gripe's egg, an alchemist's vessel. [Obs.]

E. Jonson.

 

© Webster 1913.

Gripe, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Griped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Griping.] [AS. gripan; akin to D. grijpen, G. greifen, OHG. grfan, Icel. gripa, Sw. gripe, Dan. gribe, Goth. greipan; cf. Lith. graibyti, Russ. grabite to plunder, Skr. grah, grabh, to seize. Cf. Grip, v. t., Grope.]

1.

To catch with the hand; to clasp closely with the fingers; to clutch.

2.

To seize and hold fast; to embrace closely.

Wouldst thou gripe both gain and pleasure ? Robynson (More's Utopia).

3.

To pinch; to distress. Specifically, to cause pinching and spasmodic pain to the bowels of, as by the effects of certain purgative or indigestible substances.

How inly sorrow gripes his soul. Shak.

 

© Webster 1913.

Gripe, v. i.

1.

To clutch, hold, or pinch a thing, esp. money, with a gripe or as with a gripe.

2.

To suffer griping pains.

Jocke.

3. Naut.

To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing closehauled, requires constant labor at the helm.

R. H. Dana, Jr.

<-- 4. to complain -->

 

© Webster 1913.

Gripe, n.

1.

Grasp; seizure; fast hold; clutch.

A barren scepter in my gripe. Shak.

2.

That on which the grasp is put; a handle; a grip; as, the gripe of a sword.

3. Mech.

A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.

4.

Oppression; cruel exaction; affiction; pinching distress; as, the gripe of poverty.

5.

Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines; -- chiefly used in the plural.

6. Naut. (a)

The piece of timber which terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot.

(b)

The compass or sharpness of a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a good wind.

(c) pl.

An assemblage of ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to secure the boats when hoisted; also, broad bands passed around a boat to secure it at the davits and prevent swinging.

Gripe penny, a miser; a niggard<-- ; a pinchpenny? -->.

D. L. Mackenzie.

 

© Webster 1913.

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