Both Uses of
grapple
in
The Souls of Black Folk
- Careless seems the great Avenger; History's lessons but record One death-grapple in the darkness 'Twixt old systems and the Word; Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne; Yet that scaffold sways the future, And behind the dim unknown Standeth God within the shadow Keeping watch above His own.†
Chpt 2
- In effect, this tale of the dawn of Freedom is an account of that government of men called the Freedmen's Bureau,—one of the most singular and interesting of the attempts made by a great nation to grapple with vast problems of race and social condition.†
Chpt 2 *
Definitions:
-
(1)
(grapple) to struggle, wrestle, or hold and pull
or:
a tool with claws or hooks which is used to catch or hold something -- often thrown with a rope attached and then pulled -
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, grapple or grappling hook can be used as a noun to reference a tool (consisting of several hooks for grasping and holding) that is often thrown with a rope.