What does "gripe" mean?
Gripe: To catch with the hand; to clasp closely with the fingers; to clutch.
Additional senses
- 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.
- 4.To clutch, hold, or pinch a thing, esp. money, with a gripe or as with a gripe.
- 5.To suffer griping pains. Jocke.
- 6.(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.
- 7.Grasp; seizure; fast hold; clutch. A barren scepter in my gripe. Shak.
- 8.That on which the grasp is put; a handle; a grip; as, the gripe of a sword.
- 9.(Mech.) A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.
- 10.Oppression; cruel exaction; affiction; pinching distress; as, the gripe of poverty.
- 11.Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines; -- chiefly used in the plural.
- 12.(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.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00