Library / English Dictionary

GRAPPLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat

Example:

we watched his grappling and wrestling with the bully

Synonyms:

grapple; grappling; hand-to-hand struggle; wrestle; wrestling

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("grapple" is a kind of...):

struggle (strenuous effort)

Derivation:

grapple (to grip or seize, as in a wrestling match)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A dredging bucket with hinges like the shell of a clam

Synonyms:

clamshell; grapple

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("grapple" is a kind of...):

dredging bucket (a bucket for lifting material from a channel or riverbed)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tool consisting of several hooks for grasping and holding; often thrown with a rope

Synonyms:

grapnel; grapple; grappler; grappling hook; grappling iron

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("grapple" is a kind of...):

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Meronyms (parts of "grapple"):

claw; hook (a mechanical device that is curved or bent to suspend or hold or pull something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grapple"):

crampon; crampoon (a hinged pair of curved iron bars; used to raise heavy objects)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

To grip or seize, as in a wrestling match

Example:

the two men grappled with each other for several minutes

Synonyms:

grapple; grip

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "grapple" is one way to...):

clutch; prehend; seize (take hold of; grab)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

grapple (the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat)

grappler (combatant who tries to throw opponent to the ground)

grappling (the sport of hand-to-hand struggle between unarmed contestants who try to throw each other down)

grappling (the act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Succeed in doing, achieving, or producing (something) with the limited or inadequate means available

Example:

They made do on half a loaf of bread every day

Synonyms:

contend; cope; deal; get by; grapple; make do; make out; manage

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "grapple" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "grapple"):

extemporize; improvise (manage in a makeshift way; do with whatever is at hand)

fend (try to manage without help)

cut; hack (be able to manage or manage successfully)

rub along; scrape along; scrape by; scratch along; squeak by; squeeze by (manage one's existence barely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

He quite shook hands with me—which was a violent proceeding for him, his usual course being to slide a tepid little fish-slice, an inch or two in advance of his hip, and evince the greatest discomposure when anybody grappled with it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As he went on I felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy; one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being; chord after chord was sounded, and soon my mind was filled with one thought, one conception, one purpose.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Mr. Rochester flung me behind him: the lunatic sprang and grappled his throat viciously, and laid her teeth to his cheek: they struggled.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She grappled with it concretely, making a cat-like leap for the murderer and gripping his neck-cloth with both her hands.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In quick rage he sprang at the man, who met him halfway, grappled him close by the throat, and with a deft twist threw him over on his back.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He had no arms with which to attack me from a distance; while I, armed, could always forestall him should he attempt to grapple me with his terrible gorilla arms.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I did not weep, but I knelt down and with a full heart thanked my guiding spirit for conducting me in safety to the place where I hoped, notwithstanding my adversary’s gibe, to meet and grapple with him.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

In his eagerness he came to close grapples with the bear, and his bones were crushed; but the bear had much meat on him and the people were saved.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In Chicago, while her mistress saw one side of social life, Edith Whittlesey saw another side; and when she left her lady's service and became Edith Nelson, she betrayed, perhaps faintly, her ability to grapple with the unexpected and to master it.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

She learned to look upon danger clear-eyed and with understanding, losing forever that panic fear which is bred of ignorance and which afflicts the city-reared, making them as silly as silly horses, so that they await fate in frozen horror instead of grappling with it, or stampede in blind self-destroying terror which clutters the way with their crushed carcasses.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)