I.
noun
1 hold on sth
ADJECTIVE
▪ firm , good , secure , solid ( esp. AmE ), strong , tight
▪ crushing , death , iron , painful , vice-like/vise-like
▪
Her upper arms were seized in an iron ~.
▪ gentle , loose , weak
▪ comfortable
VERB + GRIP
▪ have
▪
He still had a firm ~ on my arm.
▪ get , take
▪
Taking a tight ~ on the hook, he began to pull it closer.
▪ keep
▪
Keep a secure ~ on the rope at all times.
▪ lose
▪
She slipped and lost her ~ of the rope.
▪ strengthen , tighten
▪
Robert tightened his ~ on her shoulder.
▪ loose , loosen , relax , release , slacken
▪ adjust , change , shift
GRIP + VERB
▪ tighten
▪
She felt his ~ tighten painfully on her wrist.
▪ loosen , relax , slacken
▪
His ~ slackened and she tore herself away.
PREPOSITION
▪ in a/sb's ~
▪
Hold the microphone in a firm ~.
▪
She was powerless in his iron ~.
▪ ~ on
▪
She relaxed her ~ on the door frame.
PHRASES
▪ break sb's ~
▪
He finally broke her ~ and escaped.
2 power/control
ADJECTIVE
▪ firm , iron , powerful , strong , tight , vice-like/vise-like
▪ tenuous
▪
She has a tenuous ~ on reality.
▪ death , icy
VERB + GRIP
▪ have
▪
The Church does not have a strong ~ on the population.
▪ get , take
▪
The government needs to get a ~ on this problem.
▪
Get a ~! (= take control of yourself, your life, etc.) ( informal )
▪ keep , maintain
▪
We need to keep a tight ~ on costs.
▪ strengthen , tighten
▪
They managed to strengthen their ~ on the southern part of the country.
▪ loosen
▪ lose ( informal )
▪
Sometimes I feel I'm losing my ~ (= losing control of my life, etc.)
PREPOSITION
▪ in sth's ~
▪
Winter still held them in its iron ~.
▪
a country in the ~ of recession
▪ ~ on
▪
The government does not seem to have a very firm ~ on the economy.
PHRASES
▪ come to ~s with sth , get to ~s with sth (= to begin to take control of sth or understand sth difficult)
▪
I'm slowly getting to ~s with the language.
II.
verb
ADVERB
▪ firmly , hard , tightly
▪ gently , lightly , loosely
PREPOSITION
▪ at
▪
She gripped hard at the arms of her chair.
▪ by
▪
He gripped her gently by the shoulders.
Grip is used with these nouns as the subject: ↑ fear , ↑ fever , ↑ hand , ↑ panic , ↑ paranoia
Grip is used with these nouns as the object: ↑ arm , ↑ audience , ↑ bat , ↑ edge , ↑ handle , ↑ imagination , ↑ rail , ↑ rein , ↑ wheel , ↑ wrist