Gripe, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Griped; p. pr. & vb. n. Griping.]
Etymology: [AS. gripan; akin to D. grijpen, G. greifen, OHG. gr, 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.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Gripe, n.
(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.
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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for gripe; he lists it under catch.
Where he writes about it:
We clutch with a swift, tenacious movement of the fingers; we grasp with a firm but moderate closure of the whole hand; we grip or gripe with the strongest muscular closure of the whole hand possible to exert. — from catch