gripe Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun informal terms for objecting
    squawk; beef; kick; bitch.
    • I have a gripe about the service here
  2. verb complain
    squawk; bellyache; grouse; beef; holler; bitch; crab.
    • What was he hollering about?

WordNet

Gripe noun
Etymology
See Grype.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) A vulture; the griffin. Obs.
    Like a white hind under the gripe's sharp claws. Shak.
    E. Jonson.
Gripe transitive verb
Etymology
AS. gripan; akin to D. grijpen, G. greifen, OHG. grfan, 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.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Griped ; present participle & verbal noun Griping
Definitions
  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 intransitive verb
Definitions
  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. 4. to complain
Gripe noun
Definitions
  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. D. L. Mackenzie.

Webster 1913