GRIPE

gripe, kick, beef, bitch, squawk

(noun) informal terms for objecting; “I have a gripe about the service here”

gripe, bitch, grouse, crab, beef, squawk, bellyache, holler

(verb) complain; “What was he hollering about?”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Verb

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

(intransitive, informal) To complain; to whine.

(transitive, informal) To annoy or bother.

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

(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.

(intransitive) To suffer griping pains.

(obsolete, intransitive) To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).

(archaic, transitive) To seize or grasp.

Synonyms

• (complain): bitch (vulgar), complain, whine, whinge

Noun

gripe (plural gripes)

A complaint, often a petty or trivial one.

(nautical) A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems.

(obsolete) grasp; clutch; grip

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

(engineering, dated) A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.

(obsolete) Oppression; cruel exaction; affliction; pinching distress.

(chiefly, in the plural) Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines.

(nautical) The piece of timber that terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot.

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

(nautical) An assemblage of ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to secure the boats when hoisted.

(obsolete) A vulture, Gyps fulvus; the griffin.

Anagrams

• Greip, Griep

Source: Wiktionary


Gripe, n. Etym: [See Grype.] (Zoöl.)

Definition: 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.

Gripe, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Griped; p. pr. & vb. n. Griping.] Etym: [AS. gripan; akin to D. grijpen, G. greifen, OHG. gr, 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.

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.)

Definition: 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.

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.)

Definition: 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.

Definition: 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. D. L. Mackenzie.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 March 2025

IMMOBILIZATION

(noun) fixation (as by a plaster cast) of a body part in order to promote proper healing; “immobilization of the injured knee was necessary”


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Coffee Trivia

The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.

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