grapple

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“
I avoided thinking of what the grapple might be about, and in my haste to get through with the awful experience I worked myself fairly out of breath, so that, when at last I reached the rounded brow of the cliff,

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Definitions (30)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. noun An iron shaft with claws at one end, usually thrown by a rope and used for grasping and holding, especially one for drawing and holding an enemy ship alongside. Also called grapnel, grappling, grappling hook, grappling iron.
  2. noun Nautical See grapnel.
  3. noun The act of grappling.
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Examples

  • To the end of the grapple was attached a long, thin very stout silk line. —  054 - Ost
  • To me it seems that it has been the temper of my mind to fasten itself too strongly on life and all its objects; to hope too deeply and fully under all circumstances; to grapple, as it were, in its issues with as "hooks of steel," and never to give up, never to despair; and this blow, this bereavement, appears to me the first link that is broken to loosen my hold on this sublunary trust. —  Memoirs of 30 Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers
  • "If we rendezvous, grapple, and apply full thrust in coordination with what's left of the field drive, we'll free the station. —  Starfarers
  • I avoided thinking of what the grapple might be about, and in my haste to get through with the awful experience I worked myself fairly out of breath, so that, when at last I reached the rounded brow of the cliff, —  The Moon Metal
  • Gas hissed into his mouth. —  Split Infinity
 

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Grapple has been looked up 260 times, favorited 0 times, listed 34 times, and commented on 6 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

asserter ·  klatha ·  forend ·  sleepwalk ·  hophead ·  brach ·  splodge ·  refurbish ·  toadyism ·  offthe ·  discursiveness ·  longline
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English grapel, from Old French grapil, diminutive of grape, hook; see grape.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also graple; from Old French grappil, a grapple (of a ship), equivalent to grappin (later diminutive *grappinel, later English grapnel, q. v.), diminutive of grappe, a hook, a cluster of grapes: see grape and grapple, v.
  2. Early modern English also graple, grapel; from grapple, n., q. v. Popularly associated with grab, grasp, with which, however, it has no connection. The freq. of grab is grabble, q. v., and grasp is ult. a derivative of grope.
 

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/ˈgræpl/
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