wrangle

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to quarrel noisily, angrily or disruptively

   The bar keeper threw them out, but they continued to wrangle on down the street

2. 2
   verb

   herd and care for

   wrangle horses

3. 3
   verb

   Followed by out of: to elicit (something) from a person by arguing or bargaining.

   [W]e vvrangled out of the King ten quarters of Corne for a copper Kettel, the vvhich the Preſident preceiving him much to affect, valued it at a much greater rate; […]

4. 4
   verb

   To speak or write (something) in an argumentative or contentious manner.

   [H]e has taken in, Sir, the vvhole ſubject,— […] begging, borrovving, and ſtealing, as he vvent along, all that had been vvrote or vvrangled thereupon in the ſchools and porticos of the learned; […]

5. 5
   verb

   To herd (horses or other livestock).

   When she [Debbie Reynolds as Lucretia Rogers] tries to wrangle a calf, she ends up flat on her face in the barnyard muck.

6. 6
   verb

   Followed by out of: to compel or drive (someone or something) away through arguing.

   To VVrangle the Devil, out of the Country, vvill be truly a Nevv Experiment! Alas, vve are not Avvare of the Devil, if vve do not think, that he aims at Enflaming us one againſt another; & ſhall vve ſuffer our ſelves to be Devil-Ridden? or, by any Vnadviſableneſs, contribute unto the VVidening of our Breaches?

7. 7
   verb

   Followed by out: to put forward arguments on (a case, a matter disagreed upon, etc.).

   VVell then, if I make 'hem not vvrangle out this caſe, to his no comfort, let me be thought a Iack Davv, or La-Foole, or any thing vvorſe.

8. 8
   verb

   To cause (oneself) grief through arguing or quarrelling.

   When we have wrangled ourselves as long as our wits and strengths will serve us, the honest, downright sober English Protestant will be found, in the end, the man in the safest way, and by the surest line: […]

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English wranglen, wrangle (“to contend with (someone) in a test of strength; (figuratively) to make misleading arguments to entrap”); from a Middle Dutch or Middle Low German word related to Middle Dutch wrangen and Middle Low German wrangen (“to cause an uproar; to struggle, wrestle”) (whence Low German wrangeln (“to wrangle”)), related to Middle Dutch wringen (“to twist; to wrest; to wring; to struggle, wrestle”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wringaną (“to squeeze; to twist; to wring”). The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * Danish vringle (“to twist…