gripe

[ grahyp ]

/ graɪp /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gripe ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object), griped, grip·ing.

Informal. to complain naggingly or constantly; grumble.

to suffer pain in the bowels.

Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to tend to come into the wind; to be ardent.

verb (used with object), griped, grip·ing.

to seize and hold firmly; grip; grasp; clutch.

to produce pain in (the bowels) as if by constriction.

to distress or oppress.

to annoy or irritate: His tone of voice gripes me.

to grasp or clutch, as a miser.

Nautical. to secure (a lifeboat) to a deck or against a pudding boom on davits.

noun

the act of gripping, grasping, or clutching.

Informal. a nagging complaint.

a firm hold; clutch.

a grasp; hold; control.

something that grips or clutches; a claw or grip.

Nautical.

a lashing or chain by which a boat is secured to a deck or in position on davits.
Also called gripe piece. a curved timber connecting the stem or cutwater of a wooden hull with the keel.
the exterior angle or curve formed by this piece; forefoot.
the forward end of the dished keel of a metal hull.

a handle, hilt, etc.

Usually gripes. Pathology. an intermittent spasmodic pain in the bowels.

Nearby words

Origin of gripe

1350–1400; Middle English gripen, Old English grīpan; cognate with Dutch grijpen, German griefen; see grip, grope

SYNONYMS FOR gripe

1. whine, mutter, carp, rail, bellyache.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR gripe ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formsgrip·er, noungripe·ful, adjectivegrip·ing·ly, adverb

Can be confusedgrip gripe grippe

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gripe

It would be ludicrous to gripe about Louis-Dreyfus winning again for her work in Veep.
What's TV's Funniest Show? Our Emmy Awards Comedy Predictions|Kevin Fallon|August 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Later, another senior NCO chased me down the hall to gripe about how my pants met my boots.
How I’ll End the War: My First Week Back in Afghanistan|Nick Willard|May 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Well, I have a gripe with the pope, was a bit disgusted, and was struck by his radical views.
A Catholic Ex-Banker on Pope Francis’s Radical Views|Chris Lowney|December 15, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The gripe is much older than the bloggers and tweeters who are its latest targets.
Social Media is So Old Even the Romans Had It|Nick Romeo|October 25, 2013|DAILY BEAST

If the gov't wants to listen to me and my friends plan dinners and gripe about our husbands, go for it.
Reader Poll Results: Do you Care That the NSA Is Spying on You?|The Daily Beast|June 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST
But though he was free from Gripe and Graspall he was not free from trouble and care.
Goody Two-Shoes|Unknown
Its sides are thickly sowed with stunted trees, that bury their roots in its cracks and rents with a gripe of iron.
The Heart of the White Mountains, Their Legend and Scenery|Samuel Adams Drake
You haven't heard me gripe about having to go to the store, have you?
Jerry's Charge Account|Hazel Hutchins Wilson
He knew not how it had got there, or whence it had come, though himself had closed his own gripe upon it.
Pierre; or The Ambiguities|Herman Melville
Yet, in spite of mortifications and humiliations, they both clung to office with the gripe of drowning men.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.|Thomas Babington Macaulay

British Dictionary definitions for gripe

gripe

/ (ɡraɪp) /

verb

(intr) informal to complain, esp in a persistent nagging manner

to cause sudden intense pain in the intestines of (a person) or (of a person) to experience this pain

(intr) nautical (of a ship) to tend to come up into the wind in spite of the helm

archaic to clutch; grasp

(tr) archaic to afflict

noun

(usually plural) a sudden intense pain in the intestines; colic

informal a complaint or grievance

rare

the act of gripping
a firm grip
a device that grips

(in plural) nautical the lashings that secure a boat

Derived Formsgriper, noungripingly, adverb

Word Origin for gripe

Old English grīpan; related to Gothic greipan, Old High German grīfan to seize, Lithuanian greibiu

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gripe

gripe

Old English gripan "grasp at, lay hold, attack, take, seek to get hold of," from Proto-Germanic *gripanan (cf. Old Saxon gripan, Old Norse gripa, Dutch grijpen, Gothic greipan, Old High German grifan, German greifen "to seize"), from PIE root *ghreib- "to grip" (cf. Lithuanian griebiu "to seize"). Figurative sense of "complain, grouse" is first attested 1932, probably from earlier meaning "gripping pain in the bowels" (c.1600; cf. bellyache). Related: Griped; griping.

gripe

late 14c., from gripe (v.). Figurative sense by 1934.

Medicine definitions for gripe

gripe

[ grīp ]

v.

To have sharp pains in the bowels.

n.

gripes Sharp, spasmodic pains in the bowels.

A firm hold; a grasp.

gripe

verb (used without object), griped, grip·ing.

verb (used with object), griped, grip·ing.

noun

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Origin of gripe

Examples from the Web for gripe

gripe

verb

noun

Word Origin for gripe

gripe

gripe

gripe

v.

n.