GRAPPLE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Grapple

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/grˈæpəl/ Listen

verb

Grapple v. t. (past & past part. grappled; pres. part. grappling)

To seize; to lay fast hold of; to attack at close quarters: as, to grapple an antagonist.

To fasten, as with a grapple; to fix; to join indissolubly. "The gallies were grappled to the Centurion." "Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel."

Grapple 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.

To grapple with, to enter into contest with, resolutely and courageously. "And in my standard bear the arms of York, To grapple with the house of Lancaster."

noun

Grapple n.

A seizing or seizure; close hug in contest; the wrestler's hold.

(a)

An instrument, usually with hinged claws, for seizing and holding fast to an object; a grab.

(b)

(Naut.) A grappling iron. "The iron hooks and grapples keen."

Grapple plant (Bot.), a South African herb (Herpagophytum leptocarpum) having the woody fruits armed with long hooked or barbed thorns by which they adhere to cattle, causing intense annoyance.

Grapple shot (Life-saving Service), a projectile, to which are attached hinged claws to catch in a ship's rigging or to hold in the ground; called also anchor shot.

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Etymology of 'Grapple'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Grapple" Quotes from Famous Books

... Crawley was almost beside himself, and was altogether at a loss how to bring in the matter on which he wished to speak. He had expected to find a man who in the hurry of London business might perhaps just manage to spare him five minutes,—who would grapple instantly with the subject that was to be discussed between them, would speak to him half-a-dozen hard words of wisdom, and would then dismiss him and turn on the instant to other matters of important ...

— The Last Chronicle of Barset • Anthony Trollope

... One ball crashed into the planking close beside my hand, hurling a splinter of wood against my face. The boat gave a sudden tremor, and, with a quick, sharp cry of pain, the negro next me leaped into the air, and went plunging overboard. I flung forth a hand in vain effort to grapple his body, yet never touched it, and everything about ...

— Prisoners of Chance - The Story of What Befell Geoffrey Benteen, Borderman, - through His Love for a Lady of France • Randall Parrish

... was possible for them to fall in regard to the rotundity of the earth and gravitation, in no wise retarded the development of their art; the solidity of their buildings and accuracy of their aim was not affected by it. But sooner or later they were forced to grapple with phenomena, which the supposed parallelism of all perpendiculars erected from the earth's surface rendered inexplicable: then also commenced a struggle between the prejudices, which for centuries had sufficed in daily practice, and the unprecedented opinions which ...

— What is Property? - An Inquiry into the Principle of Right and of Government • P. J. Proudhon

... Foreign investors remain attracted by the country's political stability and high education levels, and tourism continues to bring in foreign exchange. Low prices for coffee and bananas have hurt the agricultural sector. The government continues to grapple with its large deficit and massive internal debt. The reduction of inflation remains a difficult problem because of rises in the price of imports, labor market rigidities, and fiscal deficits. The country also needs to reform its tax system and its pattern of public expenditure. Costa Rica recently ...

— The 2005 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... are fettered by misapplying it, or by straining it too far; being incapable of perceiving when it ought to yield to one of higher order. In it are found critics too petulant to be passive to a genuine poet, and too feeble to grapple with him; men, who take upon them to report of the course which he holds whom they are utterly unable to accompany,—confounded if he turn quick upon the wing, dismayed if he soar steadily 'into the region';—men of palsied imaginations and indurated hearts; in whose minds all healthy ...

— Prefaces and Prologues to Famous Books - with Introductions, Notes and Illustrations • Charles W. Eliot

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