Dictionary

gripple en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɡɹɪpəl/

Etymology

From Middle English gripel, from Old English gripol, gripul (“able to grasp much; capacious”); equivalent to grip + -le.

Meanings

1. (Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal) Griping; tenacious; gripping.
2. (Northern-England, Scotland, UK, dialectal) Grasping; greedy; snatchy; mean; niggardly; avaricious, covetous.
   • It is easy to observe, that none are so gripple and hard fisted, as the childless […] 1646, Jos[eph] Hall, The Balme of Gilead: Or, Comforts for the Distressed, both Morall and Divine. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, for Nat[haniel] Butter, →OCLC:
   • Still as he rode, he gnasht his teeth to see Those heapes of gold with griple Covetyse 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
3. (Scotland, UK, dialectal) Sprained.

Forms

Deriveds

grippleness

gripple en · NOUN · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɡɹɪpəl/

Etymology

From Middle English gryppel, from Old English *gripel, *grēpel, diminutive of Old English grep, grēpe (“furrow, ditch, drain”), equivalent to grip + -le (diminutive suffix). Cognate with German Low German Grüppel (“ditch”).

Meanings

1. A ditch; a drain.

Forms

gripple en · NOUN · etymology 3

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɡɹɪpəl/

Etymology

From grip + -le.

Meanings

1. (obsolete, rare) A hook.
2. (obsolete, rare) A grasp; a grip.
   • Ne ever Artegall his griple strong / For any thing wold slacke, but still upon him hong. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Forms

gripple en · VERB · etymology 4

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈɡɹɪpəl/

Etymology

From grip + -le (frequentative suffix).

Meanings

1. (Scotland, obsolete, rare, transitive) To grasp or grab.
   • '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. See there now.' 1889, Rudyard Kipling, Life's Handicap, The Incarnation of Krishna Mulvaney:

Forms