Gripe, v. i. 1. To
clutch, hold, or pinch a thing, esp. money, with a gripe or as with a
gripe.
2. To suffer griping pains.
Jocke.
3. (Naut.) To tend to come up into the
wind, as a ship which, when sailing closehauled, requires constant
labor at the helm. R. H. Dana, Jr.
Gripe, n. 1.
Grasp; seizure; fast hold; clutch.
A barren scepter in my gripe.
Shak.
2. That on which the grasp is put; a handle;
a grip; as, the gripe of a sword.
3. (Mech.) A device for grasping or
holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.
4. Oppression; cruel exaction; affiction;
pinching distress; as, the gripe of poverty.
5. Pinching and spasmodic pain in the
intestines; -- chiefly used in the plural.
6. (Naut.) (a) The
piece of timber which terminates the keel at the fore end; the
forefoot. (b) The compass or sharpness of
a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a
good wind. (c) pl. An assemblage of
ropes, dead-eyes, and hocks, fastened to ringbolts in the deck, to
secure the boats when hoisted; also, broad bands passed around a boat
to secure it at the davits and prevent swinging.
Gripe penny, a miser; a
niggard. D. L. Mackenzie.
Gripe, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Griped (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Griping.] [AS. gripan; akin to D. grijpen, G.
greifen, OHG. gr?fan, Icel. gripa, Sw.
gripe, Dan. gribe, Goth. greipan; cf. Lith.
graibyti, Russ. grabite to plunder, Skr. grah,
grabh, to seize. Cf. Grip, v. t.,
Grope.]
1. To catch with the hand; to clasp closely
with the fingers; to clutch.
2. To seize and hold fast; to embrace
closely.
Wouldst thou gripe both gain and pleasure
?
Robynson (More's Utopia).
3. 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.
How inly sorrow gripes his soul.
Shak.Gripe (?), n. [See Grype.]
(Zoöl.) A vulture; the griffin. [Obs.]
Like a white hind under the gripe's sharp
claws.
Shak.
Gripe's egg, an alchemist's vessel.
[Obs.] E. Jonson.