Gripe

( 1 syl. ), a scrivener, husband of Clari a, but with a tendre for Araminta, the wife of his friend Money trap. He is a miserly, money-loving, pig-headed hunks, but is duped out of £250 by his foolish liking for his neighbors wife.—Sir John Vanbrugh, The Confederacy (1695). Gripe ( 1 syl. ), the English name of Géronte, in Otway’s version of Molière’s comedy of Les Fourberies de Scapin . His daughter, called in French, Hyacinthe, is called “Clara,” and his son Leandre is Anglicized into “Leander.”—Th. Otway, The Cheats of Scapin . Gripe (Sir Francis) , a man of 64, guardian of Miranda, an heire , and father of Charles. He wants to marry his ward for the sake of her money, and as she cannot obtain her property without his consent to her marriage, she pretends to be in love with him, and even fixes the day of espousals. “Grady,” quite secure that he is the man of her choice, gives his consent to her marriage, and she marries Sir George Airy, a man of 24. The old man laughs at Sir George, whom he fancies he is duping, but he is himself the dupe all through.—Mrs. Cent livre, The Busy Body (1709). December 2, 1790, Munden made his bow to the Covent Garden audience as Sir Sir Francis Gripe.”— Memoir of J.S. Munden (1832).