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gripe

[grahyp]
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verb (used without object), griped, grip·ing.
  1. Informal. to complain naggingly or constantly; grumble.
  2. to suffer pain in the bowels.
  3. Nautical. (of a sailing vessel) to tend to come into the wind; to be ardent.
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verb (used with object), griped, grip·ing.
  1. to seize and hold firmly; grip; grasp; clutch.
  2. to produce pain in (the bowels) as if by constriction.
  3. to distress or oppress.
  4. to annoy or irritate: His tone of voice gripes me.
  5. to grasp or clutch, as a miser.
  6. Nautical. to secure (a lifeboat) to a deck or against a pudding boom on davits.
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noun
  1. the act of gripping, grasping, or clutching.
  2. Informal. a nagging complaint.
  3. a firm hold; clutch.
  4. a grasp; hold; control.
  5. something that grips or clutches; a claw or grip.
  6. Nautical.
    1. a lashing or chain by which a boat is secured to a deck or in position on davits.
    2. Also called gripe piece.a curved timber connecting the stem or cutwater of a wooden hull with the keel.
    3. the exterior angle or curve formed by this piece; forefoot.
    4. the forward end of the dished keel of a metal hull.
  7. a handle, hilt, etc.
  8. Usually gripes. Pathology. an intermittent spasmodic pain in the bowels.
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Origin of gripe

1350–1400; Middle English gripen, Old English grīpan; cognate with Dutch grijpen, German griefen; see grip, grope
Related formsgrip·er, noungripe·ful, adjectivegrip·ing·ly, adverb
Can be confusedgrip gripe grippe

Synonyms

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1. whine, mutter, carp, rail, bellyache.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for griping

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • She could not speak, just then, for the griping ache that was in her throat.

  • I said only our extreme need and griping poverty justified our acts.

    Caught In The Net

    Emile Gaboriau

  • It's who and what you are and who and what I am that's griping me.

    Triplanetary

    Edward Elmer Smith

  • His moans were the loudest, his convulsions the most violent, his cramps the most griping.

    Sube Cane

    Edward Bellamy Partridge

  • Tom was griping because he'd have to do Devis's work and his own.

    Four-Day Planet

    Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for griping

gripe

verb
  1. (intr) informal to complain, esp in a persistent nagging manner
  2. to cause sudden intense pain in the intestines of (a person) or (of a person) to experience this pain
  3. (intr) nautical (of a ship) to tend to come up into the wind in spite of the helm
  4. archaic to clutch; grasp
  5. (tr) archaic to afflict
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noun
  1. (usually plural) a sudden intense pain in the intestines; colic
  2. informal a complaint or grievance
  3. rare
    1. the act of gripping
    2. a firm grip
    3. a device that grips
  4. (in plural) nautical the lashings that secure a boat
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Derived Formsgriper, noungripingly, adverb

Word Origin

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 griping

gripe

v.

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.

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gripe

n.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
griping in Medicine

gripe

(grīp)
v.
  1. To have sharp pains in the bowels.
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n.
  1. gripes Sharp, spasmodic pains in the bowels.
  2. A firm hold; a grasp.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.