- grip
- {{Roman}}I.{{/Roman}} noun1 hold on sthADJECTIVE▪ firm, good, secure, solid (esp. AmE), strong, tight▪ crushing, death, iron, painful, vice-like/vise-like▪
Her upper arms were seized in an iron grip.
▪ gentle, loose, weak▪ comfortableVERB + GRIP▪ have▪He still had a firm grip on my arm.
▪ get, take▪Taking a tight grip on the hook, he began to pull it closer.
▪ keep▪Keep a secure grip on the rope at all times.
▪ lose▪She slipped and lost her grip of the rope.
▪ strengthen, tighten▪Robert tightened his grip on her shoulder.
▪ loose, loosen, relax, release, slacken▪ adjust, change, shiftGRIP + VERB▪ tighten▪She felt his grip tighten painfully on her wrist.
▪ loosen, relax, slacken▪His grip slackened and she tore herself away.
PREPOSITION▪ in a/sb's grip▪Hold the microphone in a firm grip.
▪She was powerless in his iron grip.
▪ grip on▪She relaxed her grip on the door frame.
PHRASES▪ break sb's grip▪He finally broke her grip and escaped.
2 power/controlADJECTIVE▪ firm, iron, powerful, strong, tight, vice-like/vise-like▪ tenuous▪She has a tenuous grip on reality.
▪ death, icyVERB + GRIP▪ have▪The Church does not have a strong grip on the population.
▪ get, take▪The government needs to get a grip on this problem.
▪Get a grip! (= take control of yourself, your life, etc.) (informal)
▪ keep, maintain▪We need to keep a tight grip on costs.
▪ strengthen, tighten▪They managed to strengthen their grip on the southern part of the country.
▪ loosen▪ lose (informal)▪Sometimes I feel I'm losing my grip (= losing control of my life, etc.)
PREPOSITION▪ in sth's grip▪Winter still held them in its iron grip.
▪a country in the grip of recession
▪ grip on▪The government does not seem to have a very firm grip on the economy.
PHRASES▪ come to grips with sth, get to grips with sth (= to begin to take control of sth or understand sth difficult)▪{{Roman}}II.{{/Roman}}I'm slowly getting to grips with the language.
verbADVERB▪ firmly, hard, tightly▪ gently, lightly, looselyPREPOSITION▪ at▪She gripped hard at the arms of her chair.
▪ by▪He gripped her gently by the shoulders.
Collocations dictionary. 2013.
