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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

A laying fast ho1d of; also, that by which anything is seized and held, a grapnel.

A grapple; a struggle. A match for yards in fight, in grappling for the bear.

Dryden.

Grappling iron

a hooked iron used for grappling and holding fast a vessel or other object.

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Grappling tongs

broad-mouthed tongs for gathering oysters.

grappling ‎(plural grapplings)

(gerund of grapple) An act in which something is grappled or grappled with
- 2007 December 21, Bernard Holland, “Yielding to Youths Fierce Enthusiasms”, in New York Times:
  […] the Schoenberg is irresistible to young hearts in their initial grapplings with great questions of life, death, love and suffering.

grappling