Also 7–8 rangle. [Cf. LG. wrangeln, MHG. rangelen, frequentative f. rangen (= MLG. and LG. wrangen) to struggle, wrestle, make uproar, related to ringen: see WRING v.]
1. intr. To dispute angrily; to argue noisily or vehemently; to altercate, contend; to bicker.
1377. [see WRANGLING vbl. sb.].
1552. Elyot, Altercor, to contende with wordes,… to wrangle.
1582. N. T. (Rhem.), 2 Tim. ii. 24. The servant of the Lord must not wrangle.
1582. Mulcaster, Elementarie, I. (1925), 83. The contrarie to right wold be soon espied, howsoeuer it [sc. the tongue] wrangle.
1633. G. Herbert, Temple, Humility, iv. Here it is For which ye wrangle.
1653. Walton, Angler, 211. None do here Use to swear, Oathes do fray Fish away,… Fishers must not rangle.
1704. Prior, Lett. to M. Boileau Despreaux, 192. With too much Heat, We sometimes wrangle, when We should debate.
1743. Fielding, J. Wild, I. viii. First secure what share you can before you wrangle for the rest.
1774. Goldsm., Retal., 55. Now wrangling and grumbling to keep up the ball.
1847. G. P. R. James, Convict, iii. Sometimes they laughed and wrangled good-humouredly enough.
1867. [T. Wright], Some Habits Working Classes, 124. Even in cases in which no premeditated resolve to wrangle exists, wrangles often occur.
1879. Dixon, Windsor, I. iii. 22. While his Norman lords were wrangling.
b. Const. about, against, anent, over, and esp. with (a person).
c. 1395. Plowman’s Tale, II. 526. Why cleimen they wholy his powere, And wranglen ayenst al his hests?
c. 1400. Langland’s P. Pl. C., XVII. 80. Þaugh couetyce wolde with þe poure wraxle [Camb. MS. wrangle] Þei mai nat come togederis.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., V. ii. (Arb.), 80. Certaine men with you haue wrangled About the promise of mariage by you to them made.
1596. Bell, Surv. Popery, II. ii. 194. Howsoeuer you wrangle about your formall succession.
1609. Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., i. 6. Did man … come wrangling into the world, about no better matters?
1650. W. D., trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 795. They wrangle anent … that universal and present remedie, whether it bee to bee had or no.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 353. Quarrelling and wrangling about their wealth.
1746. Ld. Hardwicke, in Harris, Life (1847), II. 290. Wrangling about trifles, they lose great objects.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xi. They sometimes wrangle with her for an hour together under my study window.
1859. Jephson, Brittany, i. 3. While rival farmers wrangle over rates and road-making.
1904. Verney Memoirs, II. 135. [They] were still wrangling with his mother and his many creditors.
fig. 1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iv. 144. Mens Natures wrangle with inferiour things.
1614. J. Cooke, Greene’s Tu Quoque, K 2 b. Let vs no longer wrangle with our Wittes, Or dally with our Fortunes.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 207. The windes favorable, and the seas composed; but anon they began to wrangle and we to suffer.
transf. 1648. Crashaw, Delights Muses, Musicks Duell, 43. A nightingale … In controverting warbles evenly shar’d, With her sweet selfe shee wrangles.
c. To make a noise suggestive of or comparable to wrangling; to jangle.
1816. L. Hunt, Rimini, I. 178. The golden bits keep wrangling as they go.
1873. Longf., M. Angelo, I. ii. ad fin. Low and loud the bells … Jangle and wrangle in their airy towers.
2. To argue or debate; to engage in controversy; formerly also, to dispute or discuss publicly as at a university, for or against a thesis, etc. Freq. const. about, over, upon, with. Also with clause (quots. a. 1586, 1586).
1570. Drant, Serm., C iij b. Hence wrangle the Iesuistes, hence wrastle the Sorbonistes.
a. 1586. Sidney, Apol. Poetrie (Arb.), 41. So must they bee content little to mooue: sauing wrangling, whether Vertue bee the chiefe, or the onely good.
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretorie, II. (1595), 46. I must wrangle whie you stole awaie Toms bread and butter.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xvii. (1627), 208. In wrangling about words, not disputing to the purpose, and to the point.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 182. Being resolved … to forsake my own [opinion], if any man will wrangle with me for it.
1665. J. Buck, in Peacock, Stat. Cambridge (1841), App. B. p. lxxii. The Commencers and their Sophisters are disputing and wrangling there until the clock strikes 5.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, I. 49. All the question (wrangle e’er so long) Is only this, if God has plac’d him wrong?
1773. Ld. Monboddo, Language (1774), I. I. viii. 108. About which we see men wrangle and dispute without end.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 4. When … few [were ready] to write or wrangle for their creed.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 365. The factions of the Parliament House, awe-struck by the common danger, forgot to wrangle.
1877. Field, Lakes of Killarney to Golden Horn, 75. For this reason … the Assembly wrangles over unimportant matters.
transf. a. 1608. in Davison, Poet. Rhapsody (1621), 102. Tell wit how much it wrangles In tickle points of nicenesse.
1858. H. Bushnell, Serm. for New Life, vii. (1861), 93. The mind that judges God … stumbles, complains, wrangles, and finds no issue to its labour.
3. trans. † a. With out: To argue out (a case, dispute, etc.); to contest or dispute contentiously to an end or issue. Obs.
1609. B. Jonson, Sil. Wom., IV. vi. If I make ’hem not wrangle out this case to his no comfort.
1632. Brome, North. Lass, V. ix. While they wrangle out their cause, let vs agree.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., III. 184. If he could but stifily wrangle out a vexatious dispute.
1728. [De Foe], Street-Robberies Consider’d, 42. The poor Captain was left to wrangle it out with the People of the House.
b. In pass. To be argued or debated.
a. 1734. North, Ld. Kpr. Guilford (1742), 165. And so it was wrangled off and on till the Session ended.
c. To utter wranglingly. rare–1.
1760. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. xxxviii. All that had been wrote or wrangled thereupon in the schools and porticoes of the learned.
† 4. To get (something) out of a person by bargaining. Obs. rare–1.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, III. 75. We wrangled out of the King ten quarters of Corne for a copper Kettell.
5. To influence or persuade (a person) by wrangling or contention; to argue out of a possession, etc., or in to some state.
1633. Burroughs, Sov. Brit. Seas (1651), 4. Princes … disdaining to bee wrangled out of the ancient rights and regalities.
1658. Bramhall, Consecr. Bps., viii. 182. To wrangle the Church of England out of a good possession.
a. 1659. Bp. Brownrig, 40 Serm. (1661), 234. Will a man lightly part with his inheritance; give up his right to what he possesses? be wrangled out of his Evidences by which his Tenure holds?
1675. Brooks, Gold. Key, Wks. 1867, V. 525. All the devils in hell shall never wrangle a believer out of his heavenly inheritance.
1705. Hearne, Collect. (O. H. S.), I. 70. The Latter would have wrangled ’em out of it.
1847. Mrs. Gore, Castles in Air, vii. Moral philosophy [has] wrangled the world in and out of its senses.
b. To force or drive out of a place by wrangling.
1693. C. Mather, Wond. Inv. World, 26. To wrangle the Devil out of the Country, will be truly a new Experiment.
† c. refl. To harass (oneself) by altercation. Obs.
1649. Bp. Sanderson, in D’Oyly, Life Sancroft, II. 442. When we have wrangled ourselves as long as our wits and strengths will serve us.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Fil., No. 8 (1726), 37. In this … mischievous course have these our reverend old mothers continued for several centuries, wrangling themselves about trifles.
6. With away, out. To consume, spend, or pass away (time) in wrangling. rare.
1794. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Ellen, IV. 230. They … may at last possibly agree to wrangle out the evening of their lives together.
1905. R. Garnett, W. Shakespeare, 53.
| Do I weakly | |
| Wrangle away my precious moments…? |
7. Western U.S. To take charge of (horses); to herd.
1903. A. Adams, Log Cowboy, xiii. 197. Forrest detailed Rod Wheat to wrangle the horses, for we intended to take Honeyman with us.
