wrangled

Verb

wrangle (third-person singular simple present wrangles, present participle wrangling, simple past and past participle wrangled)

1. (transitive) To convince or influence (someone) by arguing or contending.
2. (transitive) Followed by out of: to elicit (something) from a person by arguing or bargaining.
   • [W]e vvrangled out of the King ten quarters of Corne for a copper Kettel, the vvhich the Preſident preceiving him much to affect, valued it at a much greater rate; […]1624, William Simons, “Captaine Smiths Iourney to Pamavnkee”, in Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and...
3. (archaic, rare, transitive) To speak or write (something) in an argumentative or contentious manner.
   • [H]e has taken in, Sir, the vvhole ſubject,— […] begging, borrovving, and ſtealing, as he vvent along, all that had been vvrote or vvrangled thereupon in the ſchools and porticos of the learned; […]1761, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXXVIII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, volume III, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], →OCLC, pages 177–178
4. (archaic, rare, transitive) To spend (time) arguing or quarrelling.
5. (US, Western, transitive) To herd (horses or other livestock).
   • When she [Debbie Reynolds as Lucretia Rogers] tries to wrangle a calf, she ends up flat on her face in the barnyard muck.1962 January 12, “Cinema: The Second Time Around [film review]”, in Roy Alexander, editor, Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2010
   1. (US, Western, broadly, humorous, transitive) To manage or supervise (people).
      • Wrangling a chaotic group of five-year-olds is unnerving enough without the added stress of a famous NHLer [Brian Gionta] in the room helping lace his son’s skates.2010 October 3, Sean Gordon, “Gionta settles in, stands out”, in The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ont.: The Globe and Mail Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Jun 2021

See all 17 meanings of wrangle