wrastle
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹæsl̩/
ipa: /ˈɹæs(ə)l/
homophone: rassle
homophone: wrassle
rhymes: -æsəl
Forms: form: wrastles
form: wrastling
form: wrastled
form: wrastled
Etymology: From Middle English wrastlen: see wrestle.
Senses: examples: text: [T]hey their ſhips in marble ſeas with ores dyd wraſtlyng towe.
ref: 1557 December 13 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Virgil, “The Seuenth Booke”, in Thomas Phaer, transl., The Seuen First Bookes of the Eneidos of Virgill, Conuerted in Englishe Meter […], London: […] Ihon Kyngston, for Richard Jugge, […], published 7 June 1558 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, signature S.ij., verso:
text: Actiue they are in all things, whether it be to wraſtle in the games of Olympia, or to fight at Barriers in Paleſtra, able to cary as great burthens as Milo [of Croton], of ſthrength to throwe as bigge ſtones as Turnus, and what not, […]
ref: 1580, Iohn Lyly [i.e., John Lyly], “Euphues Glasse for Europe”, in Euphues and His England. […], London: […] [Thomas East] for Gabriell Cawood, […], →OCLC, folio 116, verso:
text: VVe vvraſtle not (after your Shepheards guiſe) / For painted Sheep-hooks, or ſuch pettie Prize, / Or for a Cage, a Lamb, or bread and cheeſe: / The Vanquiſht Head muſt be the Victors Fees.
ref: 1608, [Guillaume de Salluste] Du Bartas, “[Du Bartas His Second Weeke, […]. David. […].] (please specify |part=1 to 4)”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Humfrey Lownes [and are to be sold by Arthur Iohnson […]], published 1611, →OCLC, page 521:
text: It fits Ioues ſonne / VVraſtle vvith Lyons, and to tugge vvith Beares, / Grapple vvith Dragons, and incounter VVhales.
ref: 1613, Thomas Heywood, The Silver Age, […], London: […] Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Beniamin Lightfoote […], →OCLC, Act III, signature G, recto:
text: Our hope is, that the yong Studient, vvho heretofore meeting at the firſt, and vvraſtling vvith as difficult termes and matter, as in many yeares after, vvas at the firſt diſcouraged (as many haue bin) may be reading theſe Inſtitutes, haue the difficultie and darkeneſſe both of the Matter and of the Termes and VVords of Art in the beginnings of his Studie facilitated, and explained vnto him, to the end hee may proceed in his Studie cheerefully, and vvith delight; […]
ref: 1628, Edw[ard] Coke, “Prœmium”, in The First Part of the Institutes of the Lawes of England. […], London: […] [Adam Islip] for the Societe of Stationers, →OCLC:
text: Like errand Knights, our valiant vvits muſt vvraſtle / To free our Ladyes from the inchanted Caſtle.
ref: 1633, [James Shirley], The Bird in a Cage. A Comedie. […], London: […] B[enjamin] Alsop, and T[homas] Fawcet[t], for William Cooke […], →OCLC, Act I, signature C2, verso:
text: [S]o great a ſtorme of vvind and raine beat vpon vs that vvee not only loſt our vvay, but our ſelues, and at length vvraſtled to Geer, hauing firſt paſt through the Straits of Mozendram.
ref: 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “A Description of Spawhawn”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 93:
text: [H]e [the Earl of Essex] was to wraſtle with a Queens declyning, or rather with her very ſetting Age (as we may term it,) which, beſides other reſpects, is commonly even of it ſelfe the more umbratious and apprehenſive, as for the moſt part all Horizons are charged with certain Vapours towards their Evening.
ref: c. 1635 (date written), Henry Wotton, “Of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex; and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: Some Observations by Way of Parallel in the Time of Their Estates of Favour”, in Reliquiæ Wottonianæ. Or, A Collection of Lives, Letters, Poems; […], London: […] Thomas Maxey, for R[ichard] Marriot, G[abriel] Bedel, and T[imothy] Garthwait, published 1651, →OCLC, page 11:
text: […] I look on yon unfortunate Iſland, as if one look upon a Ship toſs'd up and dovvn in diſtreſſe of vvind and vveather, by a furious tempeſt, vvhich the more ſhe tugs and vvraſtles vvith the foamie vvaves of the angry Ocean, the more the fury of the ſtorme encreaſeth, and puts her in danger of ſhipvvrack; […]
ref: 1661, James Howell, “The Second Part of a Discourse ’twixt Patricius and Peregrin, Touching the Distempers of the Times. A Discours, or Parly, Continued betwixt Patricius and Peregrin, upon Their Landing in France, Touching the Civil Wars of England and Ireland.”, in Twelve Several Treatises, of the Late Revolutions in these Three Kingdomes; […], London: […] J[ohn] Grismond [II], […], →OCLC, pages 93–94:
text: And that you may be farther corroborated in your belief, conſider the manifold Stories of Apparitions, and hovv many Spectres have been ſeen or felt to vvraſtle, pull or tug vvith a man: vvhich, if they vvere a mere Congeries of Atomes, vvere impoſſible.
ref: 1668, Franciscus Euistor the Palæopolite [pseudonym; Henry More], “The First Dialogue”, in Divine Dialogues, Containing Sundry Disquisitions & Instructions Concerning the Attributes of God and His Providence in the World. […], London: […] James Flesher, →OCLC, paragraph XXIII, pages 92–93:
text: I am novv a laying in the fourth vveek, and I am ſtrong enough even to vvraſtle.
ref: 1671, Desiderius Erasmus, “The Woman in Childbed”, in H. M. [attributed to Henry More or Henry Munday], transl., The Colloquies, or Familiar Discourses of Desiderius Erasmus of Roterdam, […], London: […] E[van] T[yler] and R[alph] H[olt] for H[enry] Brome, B[enjamin] Tooke, and T[homas] Sawbridge, […], →OCLC, page 288:
text: These fires are or were singularly destructive in villages—the flames running from thatch to thatch, and, as they express it, ‘wrastling’ across the intervening spaces.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Village—the Washpool—Village Industries—the Belfry—Jackdaws—Village Chronicles”, in Wild Life in a Southern County […], London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 83:
text: And the laws of your wrastling are that neither shall strangle his adversary with his hands, nor bite him, nor claw nor scratch his flesh, nor poach out his eyes, nor smite him with his fists, nor do any other unfair thing against him, but in all other respects ye shall wrastle freely together. And he that shall be brought to earth with hip or shoulder shall be accounted fallen.
ref: 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros: A Romance, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 20:
glosses: Alternative form of wrestle.
Derived terms: word: wrastling