wrestle

English

Alternative forms

• wrassle (eye dialect)

Etymology

From Middle English wrestlen, wrastlen (also as wraxlen), from Old English wræstlian, wraxlian (“to contend, wrestle”); corresponding to wrest +‎ -le. Cognate with Saterland Frisian wrosselje (“to contend, wrestle”), West Frisian wrakselje (“to wrestle”), Middle Dutch wrastelen (“to wrestle”), Middle Low German wrostelen (“to wrestle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛ.səl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsəl

Noun

wrestle (plural wrestles)

1. A wrestling bout.
2. A struggle.

Derived terms

• thumb wrestle

 

Translations

wrestling bout

• Bulgarian: борба (bg) (borba)
• Finnish: paini (fi), painiottelu
• Greek: πάλη (el) (páli)

struggle

• Bulgarian: борба (bg) f (borba)
• Finnish: paini (fi), kamppailu (fi)

Verb

wrestle (third-person singular simple present wrestles, present participle wrestling, simple past and past participle wrestled)

1. (intransitive) To contend, with an opponent, by grappling and attempting to throw, immobilize or otherwise defeat him, depending on the specific rules of the contest.
2. (intransitive) To struggle or strive.
3. (transitive) To take part in a wrestling match with someone.
4. (transitive) To move or lift (something) with difficulty.
   • 2023 July 26, Jeanna Smialek, “Fed Raises Rates After a Pause and Leaves Door Open to More”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Federal Reserve officials raised interest rates to their highest level in 22 years and left the door open to further action as they continued their 16-month campaign to wrestle inflation lower by cooling the American economy.

5. (transitive) To throw a calf etc in order to brand it.
6. (transitive) To fight.
   • 2018 June 18, Phil McNulty, “Tunisia 1 – 2 England”, in BBC Sport‎^[2], archived from the original on 21 April 2019:

     Tunisia dug in to frustrate England in the second half but [Harry] Kane was the match-winner with a late header from Harry Maguire's flick, justice being done after referee Wilmar Roldan and the video assistant referee (VAR) had failed to spot him being wrestled to the ground twice in the penalty area.

Derived terms

• arm-wrestle
• Indian wrestle
• lip wrestle
• wrestle with a pig

 

Translations

to contend, with an opponent, by grappling and attempting to throw

• Bulgarian: боря се (borja se)
• Catalan: lluitar (ca)
• Cebuano: dumog
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 摔角 (zh) (shuāijiǎo), 摔跤 (zh) (shuāijiāo), 搏鬥／搏斗 (zh) (bódòu)

• Czech: zápasit
• Danish: bryde (da)
• Dutch: worstelen (nl)
• Esperanto: lukti (eo)
• Finnish: painia (fi)
• French: lutter (fr)
• Galician: loitar (gl)
• German: ringen (de)
• Greek: παλεύω (el) (palévo)

  Ancient: παλαίω (palaíō)

• Hungarian: birkózik (hu)
• Ibanag: gabbu
• Ilocano: aggabbo
• Indonesian: gulat (id), bergulat (id)
• Isnag: xabbo
• Japanese: 格闘する (ja) (かくとうする, kakutō suru)
• Latin: luctor
• Malay: gusti, bergusti
• Maori: whātōtō
• Norwegian: bryte (no)
• Portuguese: lutar (pt)
• Romanian: lupta (ro)
• Russian: боро́ться (ru) impf (borótʹsja), поборо́ться (ru) impf (poborótʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: rvati (sh)
• Spanish: luchar (es)
• Swedish: brotta (sv)
• Tagalog: buno, ibuno
• Thai: ปล้ำ (th) (bplâm)
• Tibetan: ཨབ་ཐང་ཚད (ab thang tshad), སྦེ་ག་ཚད (sbe ga tshad)
• Turkish: güreşmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: vật (vi)
• Waray-Waray: dulong
• West Frisian: wrakselje

to struggle or strive

• Bulgarian: боря се (borja se)
• Esperanto: lukti (eo)
• Finnish: painia (fi), kamppailla (fi)
• Galician: loitar (gl)

to take part in wrestling match

• Bulgarian: боря се (borja se)
• Finnish: painia (fi)
• Galician: loitar (gl)
• Persian: کشتی گرفتن‎ (fa) (košti gereftan)
• Portuguese: combater (pt)
• Urdu: کشتی لڑنا‎ (kušti laṛnā)

to move or lift with difficulty

• Bulgarian: боря се (borja se)
• Finnish: punnertaa (fi)

to throw an animal for branding

• Finnish: kaataa (fi)

to fight

• Finnish: painia (fi), tapella (fi)
• Greek: παλεύω (el) (palévo)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hebrew: ^{(please verify)} אבק‎ (he) (âbak)

Anagrams

• Lewters, Welters, swelter, welters