Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Griping; tenacious.
- Grasping; greedy; avaricious.
- To grasp.
- noun A ditch; a drain.
- noun A grip; a grasp.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A grasp; a gripe.
- adjective obsolete Griping; greedy; covetous; tenacious.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective obsolete
griping ;greedy ;covetous ;tenacious
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Sirname of Grimaldi, whereof he was in right descended, and called him master Herminio the covetous Mizer, a nickname very notably agreeing with his gripple nature.
The Decameron 2004
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This man he imagined best able to furnish him, if he could be won to do it willingly: but he was knowne to be so gripple and miserable, that hardly any meanes would drawe him to it.
The Decameron 2004
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Heber's generosity has been nobly praised by Scott, who contrasts the hard-heartedness of other bibliophiles, those "gripple niggards" who preferred holding on to their treasures, with his friend's careless liberality.
Americans and Others Agnes Repplier 1904
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The "gripple niggards" might have pleaded feebly in their own behalf that they could not all afford to spend, like Heber, a hundred thousand pounds in the purchase of books; and that an occasional reluctance to part with some hard-earned, hard-won volume might be pardonable in one who could not hope to replace it.
Americans and Others Agnes Repplier 1904
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To these things, Learoyd, slow to perceive the evidences of sincerity, answered only, 'If owt comes to Mulvaaney 'long o' you, I'll gripple you, clouts or no clouts on your ugly head, an 'I'll draw t' throat twistyways, man.
Life's Handicap Rudyard Kipling 1900
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To these things Learoyd, slow to perceive the evidences of sincerity, answered only, 'If owt comes to Mulvaaney 'long o' you, I'll gripple you, clouts or no clouts on your ugly head, an 'I'll draw t' throat twistyways, man.
Soldier Stories Rudyard Kipling 1900
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Clutch'd with his gripple claws the Prince his prey,
The Poems of William Watson William Watson 1896
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` ` It behoved to be, '' she said, ` ` he wad get it back again; naebody wad be sae gripple as to tak his gear after they had gi'en him a pardon; and for that Inch-Grabbit, I could whiles wish mysell a witch for his sake, if I werena feared the Enemy wad tak me at my word. ''
The Waverley 1877
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I hear that not such a thing as a counting house is to be seen in her streets, scarce a desk -- Earthquakes swallow up this mercantile city and its gripple merchants, as Drayton hath it, "born to be the curse of this brave isle."
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 5 The Letters of Charles and Mary Lamb Mary Lamb 1805
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- 'Naebody wad be sae gripple as to take his gear'; and cp.
Marmion Walter Scott 1801
bilby commented on the word gripple
"These rights, long enough insisted upon, have come to be an institution in some old countries, where they have learned how to live. I hear that "the custom of grippling, which may be called apple-gleaning, is, or was formerly, practised in Herefordshire. It consists in leaving a few apples, which are called the gripples, on every tree, after the general gathering, for the boys, who go with climbing-poles and bags to collect them." - 'Wild Apples', Henry David Thoreau.
December 14, 2007
sakhalinskii commented on the word gripple
Quite apart from the already-present and somewhat homoerotic definition, to gripple is to, quite simply, grab ahold of a nipple. Preferably someone else's, otherwise it would just hurt.
July 31, 2008