gripe

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹaɪp/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪp

Verb

gripe (third-person singular simple present gripes, present participle griping, simple past griped or (obsolete) grope, past participle griped or (obsolete) gripen)

1. (intransitive, informal) To complain; to whine.
   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in AV Club‎:

     In “Treehouse Of Horror” episodes, the rules aren’t just different—they don’t even exist. If writers want Homer to kill Flanders or for a segment to end with a marriage between a woman and a giant ape, they can do so without worrying about continuity or consistency or fans griping that the gang is behaving out of character.

2. (transitive, informal) To annoy or bother.

   What's griping you?

3. (nautical) To tend to come up into the wind, as a ship which, when sailing close-hauled, requires constant labour at the helm.^[1]
4. (obsolete, transitive) 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.
   • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:

     How inly sorrow gripes his soul.

5. (intransitive, now archaic except in passive) To suffer griping pains.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:

     the griping of an hungry belly

6. (obsolete, intransitive) To make a grab (to, towards, at or upon something).
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 14]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:

     Therefore, everyman, look to that last end that is thy death and the dust that gripeth on every man that is born of woman for as he came naked forth from his mother's womb so naked shall he wend him at the last for to go as he came.

7. (archaic, transitive) To seize or grasp.
   • 1551, Thomas More, “(please specify the Internet Archive page)”, in Raphe Robynson [i.e., Ralph Robinson], transl., A Fruteful, and Pleasaunt Worke of the Best State of a Publyque Weale, and of the Newe Yle Called Utopia: […], London: […] [Steven Mierdman for] Abraham Vele, […], →OCLC:

     Wouldst thou gripe both gain and pleasure?

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     UUhoſe hands are made to gripe a warlike Lance— / Their ſhoulders broad, for complet armour fit, / Their lims more large and of a bigger ſize / Than all the brats yſprong from Typhons loins:

   • 1667, attributed to Richard Allestree, The Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety. […], London: […] R. Norton for T. Garthwait, […], →OCLC:

     Unclutch his griping hand.

Noun

gripe (plural gripes)

1. A complaint, often a petty or trivial one.
2. (nautical) A wire rope, often used on davits and other life raft launching systems.
3. (obsolete) Grasp; clutch; grip.
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     A barren sceptre in my gripe.

   • 1764, Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto, section I:

     The young peasant […] disengaged himself from Manfred's gripe […].

   • 1833, Mary Shelley, The Mortal Immortal:

     I started — I dropped the glass — the fluid flamed and glanced along the floor, while I felt Cornelius's gripe at my throat, as he shrieked aloud, "Wretch! you have destroyed the labour of my life!"

4. (obsolete) That which is grasped; a handle; a grip.

   the gripe of a sword

5. (engineering, dated) A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.
6. (obsolete) Oppression; cruel exaction; affliction; pinching distress.

   the gripe of poverty

   • 1785, William Cowper, “The Garden”, in The Task, a Poem, in Six Books. By William Cowper […] To which are Added, by the Same Author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and The History of John Gilpin, London: Printed for J[oseph] Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul's Church-Yard, OCLC 221351486; republished as The Task. A Poem. In Six Books. To which is Added, Tirocinium: or, A Review of Schools, new edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed for Thomas Dobson, bookseller, in Second-street, second door above Chestnut-street, 1787, OCLC 23630717, page 87:

     'Tis the cruel gripe, / That lean hard-handed poverty inflicts, / The hope of better things, the chance to win, / The wiſh to ſhine, the thirſt to be amus'd, / That at the found of Winter's hoary wing, / Unpeople all our counties, of ſuch herds, / Of flutt'ring, loit'ring, cringing, begging, looſe, / And wanton vagrants, as make London, vaſt / And boundless as it is, a crowded coop.

7. (chiefly in the plural) Pinching and spasmodic pain in the intestines.
8. (nautical) The piece of timber that terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot.
9. (nautical) The compass or sharpness of a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a good wind.
10. (nautical) An assemblage of ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to secure the boats when hoisted.

Noun

gripe (plural gripes)

1. Alternative form of grype

Derived terms

Alternative forms

• grepe, grippe, grype

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrip(ə)/, /ˈɡreːp(ə)/

Noun

gripe (plural grippes or gripen)

1. Gripping or grabbing; taking with the hand.
2. (rare) A small group or collection of things.
3. (rare) An assault or attack.
4. (rare) A twinge; a sharp pain.

Alternative forms

• grijp, grip, grippe, gryp, grype, gryyp

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrip(ə)/, /ˈɡriːp(ə)/

Noun

gripe (plural gripes)

1. A griffin (mythological beast; also in heraldry).
2. A vulture (compare modern English griffon vulture).

Verb

gripe

1. Alternative form of gripen

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• grep

Derived terms

• gripe dagen
• gripe inn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡri.pe/

Noun

gripe m

1. grip, clutch, grasp
2. costliness, preciousness

Pronunciation

• grīpe: IPA^(key): /ˈɡriː.pe/
• gripe: IPA^(key): /ˈɡri.pe/

Verb

grīpe

1. inflection of grīpan:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. singular present subjunctive

Verb

gripe

1. inflection of grīpan:
   1. second-person singular past indicative
   2. singular past subjunctive

Alternative forms

• grippe (obsolete)

Noun

gripe f (plural gripes)

1. the flu, influenza

Verb

gripe

1. inflection of gripar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Alternative forms

• gripa (Colombia, Mexico)

Noun

gripe f (plural gripes)

1. (pathology) flu, influenza

   Synonym: influenza

   Tengo la gripe. ― I have the flu.

Verb

gripe

1. inflection of gripar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Inflection

Derived terms

• begripe

Further reading

• “gripe (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011