Gripe

Part of speech: noun (n.)

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.

Part of speech: noun (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. 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. The piece of timber which terminates the keel at the fore end; the forefoot.

7. The compass or sharpness of a ship's stern under the water, having a tendency to make her keep a good wind. (c) pl.

8. 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.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

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.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

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. 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.