gripe

Etymology

From Middle English gripen, from Old English grīpan, from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb- (“to grab, grasp”). Cognate with West Frisian gripe, Low German griepen, Dutch grijpen, German greifen, Danish gribe, Swedish gripa. See also grip, grope.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɡɹaɪp/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɡɹʌɪp/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪp

Verb

gripe (third-person singular simple present gripes, present participle griping, simple past griped or (obsolete) grope, past participle griped or (obsolete) gripen)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).
2. (archaic, transitive) To seize, grasp.
   • Robynson (More's Utopia)

     Wouldst thou gripe both gain and pleasure?

   • Dr. H. More

     Unclutch his griping hand.

3. (intransitive) To complain; to whine.
   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in AV Club‎:

     In “Treehouse Of Horror” episodes, the rules aren’t just different—they don’t even exist. If writers want Homer to kill Flanders or for a segment to end with a marriage between a woman and a giant ape, they can do so without worrying about continuity or consistency or fans griping that the gang is behaving out of character.

4. To suffer griping pains.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of John Locke to this entry?)

5. (nautical) To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of R. H. Dana, Jr to this entry?)

6. (obsolete, transitive) 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.
   • Shakespeare

     How inly sorrow gripes his soul.

Noun

gripe (plural gripes)

1. A complaint, often a petty or trivial one.
2. (nautical) A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems.
3. (obsolete) grasp; clutch; grip
   • William Shakespeare

     A barren sceptre in my gripe.

   • Mary Shelley, The Mortal Immortal

     I started — I dropped the glass — the fluid flamed and glanced along the floor, while I felt Cornelius's gripe at my throat, as he shrieked aloud, "Wretch! you have destroyed the labour of my life!"

4. (obsolete) That which is grasped; a handle; a grip.

   the gripe of a sword

5. (engineering, dated) A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.
6. Oppression; cruel exaction; affliction; pinching distress.

   the gripe of poverty

   • 1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper [...] To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and The History of John Gilpin, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul's Church-Yard, OCLC 221351486; republished as The Task. A Poem. In Six Books. To which is Added, Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, in Second-street, second door above Chestnut-street, 1787, OCLC 23630717, page 87:

     'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.

7. (chiefly in the plural) Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines.
8. (nautical) The piece of timber that terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot.
9. (nautical) The compass or sharpness of a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a good wind.
10. (nautical) An assemblage of ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to secure the boats when hoisted.
11. (obsolete) A vulture, Gyps fulvus; the griffin.
    • Shakespeare

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

Anagrams

• Greip, Griep

Etymology

From Old Frisian gripa, which derives from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną.

Verb

gripe

1. (Mooring) to grab, seize

Etymology

From Old Norse grípa (“to grab”), from Proto-Germanic *grīpaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreyb- (“to grasp, grab”). Cognate with Danish gribe, Swedish gripa, Icelandic grípa, English gripe, Dutch grijpen, German greifen.

Verb

gripe (imperative grip, present tense griper, simple past grep or greip, past participle grepet, present participle gripende)

1. to grab, grasp, grip
2. to seize (grab, capture).
3. to seize (take advantage of an opportunity).

References

• “gripe” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡriːpə/ (example of pronunciation)

Verb

gripe (present tense grip, past tense greip, past participle gripe, passive infinitive gripast, present participle gripande, imperative grip)

1. Alternative form of gripa

Etymology 1

From Proto-Germanic *gripiz. Cognate with Old High German grif- (German Griff), Old Norse gripr.

Etymology 2

See etymology on the main entry.

Alternative forms

• grippe (obsolete)

Noun

gripe f (plural gripes)

1. The flu, influenza.

Verb

gripe

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of gripar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of gripar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of gripar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of gripar

Alternative forms

• gripa (Colombia, Mexico)

Etymology

Borrowed from French grippe, from gripper (“to seize”), of Germanic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɾipe/

Noun

gripe f (plural gripes)

1. (medicine) The flu, influenza.

   Tengo la gripe / Tengo gripe

   I have (the) flu.

Anagrams

• pigre