grapple

verb

1. (transitive)To seize something and hold it firmly.
2. (intransitive)To wrestle or tussle.
3. (figuratively)To ponder and intensely evaluate a problem; to struggle to deal with.

   “to grapple with one's conscience”

   “Class 4 2-6-4T No. 42098 grapples with the 1 in 63 to Troutbeck at the head of the "Lakes Express".”

   “Fear of death is a universal human concern with which all thinking people at some point grapple.”

   “The frictionless appearance of a box on the doorstep is such a seductive notion. We have come to rely on it in such a brief period that we have not been able to grapple fully with the scale or the meaning of home delivery.”

4. (transitive)To fasten, as with a grapple; (by extension) to fix; to join indissolubly.

   “The gallies were grapled to the Centurion.”

   “Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel.”

   “[…] he provided himself with thieves' tackle and repaired to the house of the vizier in question, where he grappled a rope ladder with grappling irons to the battlements and climbed up to the roof of the palace .”

   “[Animals are hung] one by one, by a chain or rope grappled about a hind ankle, and carried, thus suspended, by an overhead device, to where the sticker stands. As rapidly as he can thrust his knife into the throat he does his work.”

   “Then I saw it — a figure swinging just above the arches, hanging from rope grappled to a lintel of an alcove fifty feet above. It had to be Gordie.”

5. (intransitive, transitive)To climb (whether by means of a grapple and rope, or by hand, etc).

   “Sam quickly geared up and placed the first hook. “I am coming as well,” Alicia announced. […] Sam planted the anchor and then grappled down as Alicia struggled to move more than a foot or shift down.”

   “In cases such as this, the Silencer usually grappled up the outside of the building. But Rumpus' tower was sixty storeys tall […]”

   “I made haste and grappled up the next branch, determined to get to the top first.”

   “MacAdams didn't look back to see what they were up to, just ran across the flat roof and grappled down the other side of the building.”

   “He grappled up the tree and perched himself on a branch that gave him a good view over the most of the jungle.”

6. (intransitive)To use a grapple (for example to attempt to find, hook, and raise a net or cable).

   “The following days I spent patrolling the river and grappling for nets. On Wednesday , 18th July , left Gananoque at 7 a.m.; patrolled down to Rockport, […]”

   “After returning from the cable factory with another load of cable and repeaters, the buoy will be recovered or the rope grappled for. When the previous section is aboard the ship, transmission tests are made […]”

7. (intransitive, transitive)To hook and raise with a grapple.

   “The place where the cable got jammed and broken at the bottom was two or three miles from where I grappled up the cable the first time. I do not, of course, know for certain whether rocks with crevices exist.”

   “[page 11:] Weston had just grappled the net, when we saw the light corning up the lake. [page 15:] A. About an hour and a half after dark with Weston I rowed across to this point where the net was set, and he, with a grappling hook, grappled up the net.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A close hand-to-hand struggle.
2. (countable, uncountable)The act of grappling. (uncountable)
3. A tool with claws or hooks which is used to catch or hold something.
4. A tool with claws or hooks which is used to catch or hold something.
5. (uncountable)A combination of grape and apple flavors.

   “Lady Cheron looks at the cupboards. Both apple butter and apple jelly, as well as "grapple" (grape-apple) jelly are sitting in little mason jars on the top shelf.”

   “Bradley’s mother prefers grapple juice that is 25 percent grape and 75 percent apple.”

   “This is a bit like pouring grape juice from one pitcher and apple juice from another pitcher into a common pitcher. You'd end up with neither grape juice or apple juice, but with some new mixture possibly called grapple juice.”

   “The parrot plant shook its beak and leaves wildly, almost tipping itself and the little pot over, with drops of grapple juice spraying in all directions.”