# wrestling

Pronunciation: US say "RES-uhl-ing" /ˈɹɛs.l̩.ɪŋ/; UK

## Noun

1. A sport in which two opponents try to overpower each other by grappling with bare hands, using leverage, holds, and pressure points.
   - Simple: A sport where two people fight with their bare hands, each trying to hold the other down.
   - _She took up wrestling in college and went on to compete at the national level._
   - _Years of wrestling had taught him to keep his weight low and his hands busy._
2. Short for professional wrestling. — Ellipsis of professional wrestling (“act that emulates the sport of wrestling”).
   - Simple: Short for professional wrestling. It means wrestling shows where the moves and winners are planned ahead.
   - _Fans of wrestling follow the storylines as closely as the matches, booing the villains and cheering the comeback heroes._
   - _He left amateur sports for wrestling, where the falls were rehearsed and the feuds were written by a creative team._
4. Physical grappling with an opponent, or by extension a hard struggle to achieve something.
   - Simple: A fight where people grab and push each other, or a hard effort to reach a goal.
   - _Her memoir traces a long inner wrestling with faith and doubt._
   - _The playground wrestling stopped the moment the bell rang._

## Verb

3. Present participle and gerund of wrestle. — present participle and gerund of wrestle
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of wrestle. Use it after is, are or was, or to name the action.
   - _Ranch hands spent the morning wrestling calves to the ground for branding._
   - _Wrestling a heavyweight twice his size, the young champion still managed to pin him._

## Noun

5. A single match between two wrestlers. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A single match in which two people wrestle.
   - _The games began with foot races and closed with a wrestling between the two strongest men of the valley._
   - _Spectators bet heavily on the wrestlings, which drew bigger crowds than the races._

## Origin

From late Old English wræstlung.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/wrestling (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).