Forms: 4–5 strogel, 5 strogolyn, strogil (strokel), 6 strog(g)ell, stroggle, 4–6 strogle, strougle, 4–7 strugle, struggel, 6– struggle. [ME. strugle, strogel, etc., a frequentative formation of obscure origin.
According to Skeat the root is that of ON. strúg-r, MSw. strūgh-er, ill will, Sw. dial. strug, contention, strife, reluctance, strung, revengeful, Norw. stru, refractory, Da. dial. struende, reluctantly. On this assumption, however, the formation of the ME. verb still requires explanation; there is no evidence of a Scandinavian type *struggla. Others regard the word as cogn. w. Du struikelen, G. straucheln (MHG. strûcheln, freq. of OHG. strûhhên, -ôn), to stumble. The change from (k) to (g) would not be a strong objection to this etymology, but the meanings of the Eng. and the continental verbs are widely apart. Possibly the word may be due to phonetic symbolism, the beginning being suggested by words like strive, strong; cf. TUGGLE v., TOGGLE v.2]
1. intr. To contend (with an adversary) in a close grapple as in wrestling; also, in wider use, to make violent bodily movements in order to resist force or free oneself from constraint; to exert one’s physical strength in persistent striving against an opposing force.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 1130. As me was taught … Was no thyng bet to make yow to see Than strugle [v.rr. strogele, strogle, strougle] with a man vp on a tree. Ibid., Pard. T., 501. And I shal ryue hym thurgh the sydes tweye Whil that thou strogelest [v.rr. struggelist, stroglest] with hym as in game.
1440. J. Shirley, Dethe K. James (1818), 19. And gretely the Kyng strogild with hem, for to have berevyd thame thare knyvys; by the which labur his handis wer all forkute.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 480/2. Strogolyn (v.r. strobelyn), colluctor.
1483. Caxton, Golden Leg., 211 b/1. A rechelles felaw stroglyd and wrestlyd wyth her and brake alle her egges.
1530. Palsgr., 741/1. I stroggell with my bodye, as one dothe that wolde nat be holden, je me desrigle.
1569. Roest, trans. J. van der Noot’s Theat. Worldlings, 5 b. Much like vnto the Hare, who being caught in the nette, the more he struggleth, the faster he maketh hym self.
1595. Shaks., John, IV. i. 77. I will not struggle, I will stand stone still.
1600. Earl Gowrie’s Conspir., C 1. In this meane tyme, his maiesty, wyth struggeling and wrastling wyth the said maister Alexander had broght him perforce out of that study.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1638), 120. In strugling with him for the knife, in wresting it out of his hand, hee hurt himselfe therwith in the forhead.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxv. 22. And the children struggled together within her.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 144. It is pleasant to see these Chickens, in one side some thrusting out their heads, others striving and struggling to get out their bodies.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 291. The Boat’s brawny Crew the Current stem, And, slow advancing, struggle with the Stream.
1787. Best, Angling (1822), 56. Then if he [sc. the pike] struggles again very much, give him line again.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xl. The h wind was adverse, attended by some rain, and they struggled against it without much assistance from the tide.
1825. Bryant, Afr. Chief, 59. He struggled fiercely with his chain.
1842. Tennyson, Dora, 100. So saying, he took the boy, that cried aloud And struggled hard.
1848. J. Grant, Adv. Aide-de-C., xl. I was struggling breathlessly in the water.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxiv. They … drank a great quantity of champagne at the buffet, where the people … struggled furiously for refreshments.
1856. Kane, Arctic Expl., II. xv. 165. We struggled manfully to force our way through.
1905. Elin. Glyn, Viciss. Evangeline, 222. ‘No, no,’ I said, struggling feebly to free myself.
b. To make violent efforts to breathe (usually, to struggle for breath); to be in the agony of death. Also (nonce-use) to pass out of (the world) with a struggle.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Surv. Leviath. (1676), 281. There will at some time or other, before he struggles out of this world, be sadness to him in the consideration.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 4 Feb. 1685. Being now in much paine, and struggling for breath.
2. fig. To contend resolutely, esp. with an adversary of superior power; to offer obstinate resistance; to make violent efforts to escape from constraint. Const. with, against, for.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 964. But in myn age wrastle with hardenesse, That with hym stroglid neuere in grennesse Of youthe, þat mutacion and chaunge … me seeme shulde al straunge.
c. 1425. St. Christina, xii. in Anglia, VIII. 124/30. Fro þen forþ þey sturglid [? read struglid] nor enforced no-thinge ageyne goddes wille.
1530. Palsgr., 741/1. I strogell, I murmure with wordes secretly, je grommelle. He stroggleth at every thyng I do.
1532. Tindale, Expos. v–vii. Matt., Prol. to Rdr. 6 b. Euen so is the spirite oppressed & ouer laden of the fleshe thorow custume, that she struggeleth and stryueth to get vp and to breake lowse in vayne.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. iii. 68. Oh limed soule, that strugling to be free, Art more ingag’d.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. vi. 381. With these and other arguments he struggles with his own conscience.
1771. Lett. Junius, xlix. 254. A virtuous man, struggling with adversity, [is] a scene worthy of the gods.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., viii. My father … sits at home struggling with his grief.
1830. D’Israeli, Chas. I., III. xii. 268. Whenever a party struggles for predominance in the State, it necessarily becomes a political body.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. i. 123. No sooner was the first pressure of military tyranny felt, than the nation … began to struggle fiercely.
1855. Kingsley, Misc. (1859), I. 14. Close to our own shores, the Netherlands are struggling vainly for their liberties.
1856. Ann. Reg., Chron., 65/1. The counsel for the prisoner attempted to struggle against both the evidence and the prisoner’s statement.
1857. Borrow, Romany Rye, xxxi. There came over me the same feeling of horror that I had experienced of old … I struggled manfully against it.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 6. 146. It was with less success that the order struggled against the passion for knowledge.
1908. Rider Haggard, Ghost Kings, i. 4. She and her people … had struggled against this South African scheme [of her husband’s] even to the verge of open quarrel.
1918. Times Lit. Suppl., 14 March, 121/4. There are States to-day prepared to help Germany to a dictatorship, against which, if she were successful, they would have to struggle in the end.
b. Said of passions, qualities, forces, etc.
1619. Fletcher, Knt. Malta, II. v. How nature and his honour struggle in him!
1663. Patrick, Parab. Pilgr., xxvii. (1687), 300. Two passions he felt strugling in him at the same point of time.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 314. Half loth and half consenting to the ill, For loyal blood within him struggled still.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xliv. Pride, and something very like fear, seemed struggling in his breast.
1810. Scott, Lady of Lake, VI. ii. The sunbeams … struggling with the smoky air, Deaden’d the torches’ yellow glare.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. III. viii. Hope and ruth, flickering against despair and rage, still struggle in the minds of men.
1858. A. Lincoln, in Polit. Deb. with S. A. Douglas, 15 Oct. (1912), II. 268. Right and wrong … are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle.
1906. Petrie, Relig. Anc. Egypt, i. 5. This idea [of ‘a jealous god’] struggled hard against polytheistic toleration.
3. quasi-trans. with adv. or phrase expressing the result of struggling. lit. and fig.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, Eccles. vi. 10. Neither can hee thinke to struggle himselfe out from the mighty, and over ruling power of his Creator.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, II. ii. (1640), 45. Till after many changes he struggled himself again into the place.
1646. Unhappy Game Scotch & Eng., 20, in 4th Scarce Tracts (1752), I. 358. How they shuffle and cut to struggle themselves out of the Bryers.
1660. Ingelo, Bentiv. & Ur., II. (1682), 170. When the light began to appear, the Ass had strugled her self out.
1889. Stevenson, Master of Ballantrae, iv. He there struggled down the last of his emotion.
4. To make great efforts in spite of difficulties; to contend resolutely with (a task, burden); to strive to do something difficult. † Also const. at. To struggle for existence: cf. STRUGGLE sb. 1 d.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxvii. § 12. They struggle with that which they cannot fully master.
1644. Charles I., in Ellis, Orig. Lett., Ser. I. III. 299. Besydes our taske is not litle that we strugle with.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 606. They … wish and struggle, as they pass, to reach The tempting stream.
1687. Atterbury, Answ. Consid. Spirit Luther, 64. She [the Church of England] had struggl’d and heav’d at a Reformation; ever since Wicliffs dayes.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xxxv. Who that is struggling under his own evils will add to them the miseries of another?
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxix. She struggled to overcome the pleadings of her heart.
1808. Scott, Marm., I. xxviii. And when he struggled at a smile, His eye look’d haggard wild.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., I. 34. Such an opportunity as seldom occurs, of cheering a noble mind struggling under misfortunes.
1827. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. A Death-bed. Where for years they have been struggling to raise a Girls’ School with no effect.
1849. Q. Rev., March, 391. Long-horns [sc. cattle] which still struggle for a separate existence in a small district.
1855. Poultry Chron., II. 498. I saw a hungry little bantam cock struggling with a huge corn much too large for his gullet.
1856. Mrs. Marsh, Ev. Marston, xxxv. Beds … where the same description of flowers were struggling for existence.
1862. Calverley, Verses & Transl. (ed. 2), 31. I hear that youth … struggling with the first few bars. And I do think the amateur cornopean Should be put down by law.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, i. While Glynn was struggling to answer the question … ‘Where have I seen that face?’
1897. Hall Caine, Christian, x. When spoken to they would struggle to smile, but the smiles would break down after a moment.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, xviii. 190. Along the baked banks of which [dry ravines] a few stunted trees—the only ones to be seen—struggle to keep themselves alive.
5. To make progress with difficulty to, into, out of (a place, a condition), through (something interposed). Also with adv., along, forward, on. To struggle on: occas. to maintain existence, or continue one’s course of action, with difficulty.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 18 April 1686. The book will, I doubt not, struggle through this unjust impediment.
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., II. 18. The light struggles dimly through windows darkened by dust.
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, xvi. A bass-relief whose figures seemed struggling from the stone.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VII. ii. Either way, the world must contrive to struggle on.
1841. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xxviii. Hugh, struggling into a sitting posture and gazing at him intently.
1844. E. Warburton, Crescent & Cross (1846), I. i. 1. The town itself lay buried beneath an avalanch of snowy mist, through which a few spires scarcely struggled into sight.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iv. I. 452. His looks and tones had inspired terror when he was merely a young advocate struggling into practice.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 27. 212. My telescope … directed upon the men as they struggled through the snow.
1865. Seeley, Ecce Homo, v. (ed. 8), 40. Christ did not struggle forward to a position in which he could found a new state, but simply founded it.
1880. A. H. Swinton, Insect Variety, 10. Here … still struggles on a remnant of a once rich coleopterous fauna of lacustrine aspect.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, vii. When he was slowly struggling back to life and strength.
1888. F. Hume, Mme. Midas, I. Prol. He struggled to his feet quickly.
1902. J. Buchan, Watcher by Threshold, 313. A moon was beginning to struggle through the windy clouds.
1908. E. M. Gordon, Indian Folk Tales, x. (1909), 98. For a while the medical work struggled along under great difficulties.
1910. Meredith, Celt & Saxon, xv. in Fortn. Rev., June, 106. His brown coat struggles out of the obscurity of the background [of the picture].
with cognate object. 1842. Lover, Handy Andy, xx. All gentle feeling vanished, as he saw Scatterbrain struggling his way towards him.
1871. Daily News, 6 Jan. The officers … were unable to struggle their way up to the inclosure in front of the altar.
† 6. trans. To contest (a point) persistently. Obs.
1769. Blackstone, Comm., IV. xx. 280. The justices long struggled the point.
