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grapnel

UK/ˈɡɹæpnəl/US/ˈɡɹæpnəl/
nounC2Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Other forms: grapnels

A grapnel is a small anchor with several hooks. Throw a grapnel.

The arms fold in, which is why it suits a small boat with nowhere to stow an anchor. A grapnel was also thrown to catch another ship's rail and pull it alongside.

Pearson Scott Foresman · Public domain

Definitions of grapnel

  1. 1noungrapnelA small anchor with several hooks.C2

    “The grapnel caught on the third throw.”

grapnel is an anchor.

Where it comes from

Old French grapil, a little hook, from the same root as grapple and grab.

  1. Old French

    grapil

  2. Middle English

    grapnel

  3. English, today

    grapnel

From Middle English grapnel, from Anglo-Norman -, from Old French grapil, grapin. Compare modern French grappin.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

grapnel in the wild

  • Distance vertical axis of the star, the hammer and sickle from the grapnel is equal to 1/4 of the flag's width.

    Flag of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic

  • A grappling hook, or grapnel, is a drag-looking device intended for grappling onto something.

    Grappling hook

  • A ship's anchor is a type of grapple, especially the "grapnel" anchor.

    Grapple (tool)

  • Steered by Vernon Ginger Coles XE4 looked for the two telephone cables by using a towed grapnel.

    Operation Sabre

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.