wrangle

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   To convince or influence (someone) by arguing or contending.

2. 2

   Followed by out of

   Followed by out of: to elicit (something) from a person by arguing or bargaining.

   • [W]e vvrangled out of the King ten quarters of Corne for a copper Kettel, the vvhich the Preſident preceiving him much to affect, valued it at a much greater rate; […]
3. 3

   To speak or write (something) in an argumentative or contentious manner.

   • [H]e has taken in, Sir, the vvhole ſubject,— […] begging, borrovving, and ſtealing, as he vvent along, all that had been vvrote or vvrangled thereupon in the ſchools and porticos of the learned; […]
4. ›+ 11 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To spend (time) arguing or quarrelling.

   2. 5

      To herd (horses or other livestock).

      • When she [Debbie Reynolds as Lucretia Rogers] tries to wrangle a calf, she ends up flat on her face in the barnyard muck.
   3. 6

      Followed by out

      Followed by out: to put forward arguments on (a case, a matter disagreed upon, etc.).

      • VVell then, if I make 'hem not vvrangle out this caſe, to his no comfort, let me be thought a Iack Davv, or La-Foole, or any thing vvorſe.
   4. 7

      To cause (oneself) grief through arguing or quarrelling.

      • When we have wrangled ourselves as long as our wits and strengths will serve us, the honest, downright sober English Protestant will be found, in the end, the man in the safest way, and by the surest line: […]
   5. 8

      To quarrel angrily and noisily

      To quarrel angrily and noisily; to bicker.

      • [A]fter his old manner, he wrangleth and quarrelleth.
      • Mens natures vvrangle with inferior things, / Tho great ones are the obiect, […]
      • There vvas a contention of vvordes betvvixt you & your father erevvhile. Thou vvert at vvords, or vvrangledſt vvith him right novv.
   6. 9

      To make harsh noises as if quarrelling.

      • A suitable attire the horses shew; / Their golden bits keep wrangling as they go; […]
      • Distant and near and low and loud the bells, / Dominican, Benedictine, and Franciscan, / Jangle and wrangle in their airy towers, / Discordant as the brotherhoods themselves / In their dim cloisters.
   7. 10

      To argue, to debate

      To argue, to debate; also (dated), to debate or discuss publicly, especially about a thesis at a university.

      • VVher the Philoſophers as they think ſcorne to delight, ſo muſt they be content little to mooue; ſauing vvrangling vvhether Virtue be the chiefe or the onely good; […]
      • But [Severin] Binius vvrangleth here; Can vve blame him vvhen the free-hold of their Great Miſtreſſe is ſo neerely touched?
   8. 11

      An angry dispute

      An angry dispute; a noisy quarrel; an altercation.

      • This vvould of Neceſſity, breed an infinite Number of Brangles and litigious Suits in the Spiritual Courts, and put the vvretched Paſtor at perpetual Variance vvith his vvhole Pariſh.
   9. 12

      Angry disputation

      Angry disputation; noisy quarrelling.

      • Wrangle and bloodshed followed thence.
      • From this dialogue the assembly fell to wrangle, and broke up quarrelling.
      • None can hate / So much as I any kind of wrangle; / And yet, such is my folly, or my fate, / I always knock my head against some angle / About the present, past, or future state: […]
   10. 13

       A contentious argument or response.

   11. 14

       A controversy.

The neighborhood

• neighbortard wrangle