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.)
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. 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.
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.) 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 , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Griped (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Griping.]
[AS. gripan; akin to D.
grijpen, G. greifen, OHG. gr&?;fan, 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 (?), n. [See Grype.]
(Zoöl.) 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.
Hear it pronounced