To gripe at or complain about something repeatedly; to cause continued grievance or complaint.
From be- (prefix) + gripe (from Middle Dutch gripen meaning 'to seize' or 'to grab'). Gripe originally meant a physical grabbing, then evolved to mean seizing one's attention in an unpleasant way (as in colic 'griping' the stomach).
Gripe comes from Dutch sailors—it meant to grab or seize, which made sense for sailing. Then it shifted to mean something that seizes your belly (stomach pain) and finally to something that seizes your mood (constant complaining).
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