[f. WRESTLE v. + -ING1.]
1. The action or exercise of two persons grappling or gripping in a contest of strength and adroitness, the one endeavoring to throw the other by tripping or overbalancing him; the fact of contending or throwing in this manner. Also in fig. context.
a. 1100. in Napier, O. E. Glosses, 122/1. Palestram, wræstlunge.
c. 1205. Lay., 1871. Þer wes muchel folc at þere wrastlinge.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 795. Ȝif tueie men goþ to wraslinge.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 28526. At wrestelyng, at wake, rengd haf i.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 8873. What wiþ wristling, wat wiþ togging.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 548. Ouer al ther he cam, At wrastlynge he wolde haue alwey the Ram.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., I. vi. 356. To se how þat this Coryne Wald deil wiþ him in wresslyne.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xiv. 350. He … caught the kynge … by the waast in maner of wrastelynge.
1539. Elyot, Cast. Helthe, 50 b. Wrastlyng also with the armes and legges … dothe exercise the one and the other.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 152. The weaker hath the woorse, in wrestlyng alway.
1613. Dekker, Strange Horse Race, Wks. (Grosart), III. 325. There could I describe what warlike Races the Winds held with the Waters: their Wrastling, Running, Retiring.
1644. Milton, Educ., 7. They must be also practiz’d in all the locks and gripes of wrastling.
1701. Collier, M. Aurel., 125. The right Knack of Living resembles Wrastling more than Dancing.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 41. The fatal effects of carrying great weights, running, wrestling, and the like.
1801. Strutt, Sports & Past., II. 64. The wrestling is only practised on the afternoon of St. Bartholomew’s day.
1850. Maurice, Mor. & Met. Philos. (ed. 2), I. 126. Some say that Plato … gained a prize for wrestling at the Isthmian games.
b. With the. The sport of grappling and throwing; a contest in wrestling; a wrestling-match.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 318. Ich … biheold hit, & oðe wrastlinge & oðer fol gomenes.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 517. Þe wrastlinge bitvene hom was somdel toȝt.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1800. On a clyf faste by þe se Þe wrastlyng was ordeyned to be.
c. 1400. Gamelyn, 190. Towardes þe wrasteling þe yong childe rode.
c. 1430. How Gd. Wijf tauȝte hir Douȝtir, 81, in Babees Bk., 40. Go not to þe wrastelinge, ne to schotynge at cok.
1518. in Leadam, Star Chamber Cases (Selden), II. 154. The wrestlyng at Seynt Jamys tide.
1598. Stow, Surv. (1603), 524. This yeare was a great fray at the wrastling.
1661. Pepys, Diary, 28 June. Went to Moorefields … and saw the wrestling … between the north and west countrymen.
1725. Pope, Odyssey, VIII. 104. None in the leap spring with so strong a bound, Or firmer, in the wrestling, press the ground.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 585/1. Leaping and running … generally accompany the wrestling as prize games.
1893. Robinson & Gilpin, Wrestling & Wrestlers, 189. He went … to Newcastle, and won the wrestling there.
c. With a and pl. A wrestling-bout or match.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 992. Ȝyf þou euer settyst swerde eyþer ryng For to gadyr a wrastlyng. Ibid., 8987. Karolles, wrastlynges, or somour games.
c. 1400. Gamelyn, 171. Ther was ther be siden cried a wrastelynge.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 291. Leuyth ȝoure rennyng on holy-dayes to wrestelynges, markettys, & feyris.
c. 1450. Capgrave, St. Gilbert, 65. Thei … vsed not to renne to wrastillingis, berbaytingis and swech oþir onthrifty occupaciones.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 6. Thys yere was one John Norwelde … slayne at Blackebethe at a wrestlynge.
1578. H. Wotton, Courtlie Controv., 37. Great preparation was made of stage plays,… wrastlings, and other infinite pastymes.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XXIII. 610. Pelides then set forth Prize for a wrastling.
1683. in Verney Mem. (1904), II. 339. Where the wrestlings are used to be in Lincoln’s Inn fields.
1893. Robinson & Gilpin, Wrestling & Wrestlers, 11. [He] stood unrivalled in all the wrestlings and other athletic exercises and manly sports.
2. The action of striving or contending, maintenance of resistance, opposition, or strife, on the part of persons.
c. 890. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 320. Swa wæs þær þa seo wræstlung ymb Stephanum. Ibid., 321. He þa … ut ferde of lichaman to ʓewinne & to wræstlunge lifes & deaðes.
a. 1400. New Test. (Paues), Ephes. vi. 12. For ȝoure wrastlynge … is … aȝeyn princes.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxxix. 54. So this wrastlyng endured a long space; but fynally the knyght was rescued.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Matt. v. 19 b. [To] make ye redy to this wrastling, if ye esteme the blessed rewardes of the gospell.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., VI. 294. With sore Wrestling agaynst the parching Sun.
1642. Declar. Lords & Comm., 23 Sept., 9. Our wrastling, and striving with that fierce and peremptory opposition.
a. 1844. in Stanley, Arnold, I. ii. 31. His absolute wrestling with evil.
1883. Knowledge, June, 334/1. That heavy and subtle wrestling for position which distinguishes the first-class player [of chess].
transf. 1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 279. The river having with a great turning compasse after much wrestling, gotten out towards the North.
1654. R. Codrington, trans. Iustine, IV. 74. This concurse and wrastling of the water.
fig. 1534. More, Treat. Passion, Wks. 1347/1. Hys catholike faythe … euer continue shal whyle this worlde last, what wrestlyng soeuer the infideles shall make with it.
1639. S. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 227. How unequall is the wrastling between reason and passion in a weake spirit.
1849. Robertson, Serm., I. iii. (1866), 45. Language which describes the wrestling of the soul.
1872. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 2. Life as a long wrestling with unseen and invisible forces of grace.
b. The action of struggling or laboring.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 238. Al þus,… iðe wrastlunge [printed winstlunge] of tentaciun, ariseð þe biȝeate.
a. 1225. [see WRAGGLE v. 1].
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, I. 61. And so yn wrastelyng, scho woke of hyr slepe.
1563. Pilkington, Burnynge of Paules Ch., M iiij. Saint Willyams horse,… wyth wrastlynge and sparringe vppe, saued himselfe and his master from drowninge.
fig. 1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe, Wks. (Grosart), V. 252. Which it will be no impeachment for the wisest to turne loose for a trueth, without any diffident wrastling with it.
c. The action of striving earnestly in prayer; an instance of this.
1722. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), II. 664. You have our prayers here, and … the Church of Scotland has a share in your wrestlings.
1818. J. Pye Smith, Script. Test. to Messiah, I. 96. The ‘wrestlings’ of holy prayer.
1902. A. McIlroy, Druid’s Island, viii. After deep conseederation, an’ sore wrastlin’ wi’ the Almichty in prayer.
3. attrib. and Comb., as wrestling article, bout, † game, -house, -master, -match, ring; wrestling place, a place where wrestling is practised or held; † wrestling pull, a bout of wrestling; = PULL sb.2 3; wrestling school Gr. Antiq., = PALÆSTRA a.
1714. Parkyns, Inn-Play, 62. To make these *Wrestling Articles yet more stronge they may be with a Noverint Universi.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, II. 237. [The ballads] treat … of *wrestling bouts with Charon.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. ix. 43. Coridon … Did chalenge Calidore to *wrestling game.
1874. Symonds, Sk. Italy & Greece, 8. The olives here tell more to us of Olivet … than of … the wrestling-ground.
1848. B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Clouds, III. iii. This is the talk which daily … crowds the Bagnios, and drains the *Wrestling-houses!
1714. Parkyns, Inn-Play, 15. Since the Diluvians … have been celebrated *Wrestling Masters.
1820. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 272. Say further what the wrestling-master Instructed you.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 19 Feb. 1667. A *wrestling-match for £1000 … before his Ma[jes]ty.
1889. W. Armstrong, Wrestling, 233. What a Lancashire wrestling-match is like.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 533/2. *Wrestelynge place, palestra.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden), 42. At Clarkenwell at the wrestlynge place.
a. 1592. Greene, Deb. betw. Follie & Love, Wks. (Grosart), IV. 218. Hath not Follie inuented a thousand deuices to drawe a man from idlenesse, as … Dancing schooles, Fencing houses, wrastling places?
1610. Healey, Theophrastus (1636), 23. I pray you whose wrestling place is this?
1602. Carew, Cornwall, 2. This *wrastling pull betweene Corineus and Gog-magog.
1695. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), III. 46. The *wrestling ring in Lincolns Inn Feilds.
1893. Robinson & Gilpin, Wrestling & Wrestlers, 52. One so slow and ungainly would not be quick enough in his movements in the wrestling ring.
1835. Thirlwall, Greece, vii. I. 290. The exercises of the troop in … the *wrestling-school.
1623. Cockeram, Gymnasticke, a teacher of the *Wrastling Science.
1893. Robinson & Gilpin, Wrestling & Wrestlers, 9. Old and young regarded wrestling science, wrestling distinction and strength, with keen relish.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., xxvi. When I be in *wrestling trim.
