wrangler
(ˈræŋglə(r))
[f. as prec. + -er1.]
1. a. One who wrangles or quarrels; an angry or noisy disputer or arguer.
| c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. 4 Here is gylys Fogeler of ayebery,..With wallys the wrangler. c 1520 Dial. Creatures Mor. v. B ij b, Many one..ageynst Lawe and Reason somtyme wyll stryue and..be full of questyons, wherfore they be takyn for wrangelers and euyll people. 1579 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 106 Lucilla..will either shut mee out for a Wrangler, or cast mee off for a Wiredrawer. 1619 in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1906) I. 68 Giles James, a swaggerer and wrangler, much discommended. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 159 Convinced gainesayers and wranglers they are, in stead of convincers. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. xiii. §20 Rather like well-bred gentlemen in polite conversation, than like noisy and contentious wranglers. 1790 Cowper Iliad i. 360 But this wrangler here—Nought will suffice him but the highest place. 1809 Irving Knickerb. iv. i, His name..was a corruption of Kyver, that is to say, a wrangler or scolder. a 1901 Stubbs Germany in Early Mid. Ages (1908) 107 Henry the Wrangler conspired with the Czechs of Bohemia. |
| fig. and transf. 1578 H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 129 Where so the wofull Louer is, euen there also is he [sc. Cupid], In bedde the wrangler will not misse his pillowbeare to be. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. ii. 75 The Seas and Windes (old Wranglers) tooke a Truce. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Family ii, What doth this noise of thoughts within my heart?.. Lord,..Turn out these wranglers, which defile thy seat. |
| Prov. 1616 T. Draxe Bibl. Scholast. 244 A wrangler neuer wanteth words. 1671 T. Hunt Abeced. Scholast. 18 Many Lawyers, many Wranglers. |
b. One who engages in argument, debate, or controversy; a debater, disputant, or controversialist.
| 1561 T. N[orton] Calvin's Inst. iv. xviii. 145 b, Nowe least any wrangler shoulde stirre vs vp strife by reason of the names of sacrifice and sacrificing prest. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 90, I set downe the proportions..to content wranglers, who..will..take occasion to..detract from that which they cannot disproue. c 1643 Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 42 Teaching them the subtilities of Logic, which as it is usually practised, enables them for little more than to be excellent wranglers. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. viii. §11 These general Maxims..are of great Use in Disputes, to stop the Mouths of Wranglers. 1741 Warburton Div. Legat. ii. ii. Append. 23 There is indeed a Time when a serious Writer would not trouble himself to confute or set a Wrangler right. 1774 Reid Aristotle's Logic vi. §1 (1788) 127 A man who has studied logic all his life may be, after all, only a petulant wrangler. 1842 I. Taylor Enthus. iv. 79 The argumentative resources of the modern..wrangler [earlier edd. stoic]. 1881 E. P. Hood Christmas Evans 162 He was not a wrangler, not disposed to maintain debates as to his rights. |
c. The name for each of the candidates who have been placed in the first class in the mathematical tripos at Cambridge University. See
tripos 2, and
cf. senior a. 3.
| 1750 Friendly Adv. Old Tory to Vice-C. Cambr. (1751) 26 The Wranglers..have usually expected, that all the young Ladies of their Acquaintance..should wish them Joy of their Honours. 1791 in C. Wordsworth Schol. Acad. (1877) 323, I did above three times as much as the Sen[io]r Wrangler last year. 1812 Examiner 7 Sept. 571/2 These two drivellers are respresented as having been fellow-wranglers at College! 1831– [see senior a. 3]. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xii, He took up his books once more, and came forth third wrangler. 1874 C. Wordsworth Soc. Life Eng. Univ. 232 The set for Com. Priora, Feb. 9, 1748–9,..being the earliest which bears on its back a list of the Wranglers and Senior Optimes. |
| fig. c 1820 Byron Diary Wks. (1846) 630/2 Lady B. would have made an excellent wrangler at Cambridge. |
2. Western U.S. One who is in charge of a string of horses or ponies on a stock-farm; a herder.
| 1888 Roosevelt in Cent. Mag. April 851/2 There are two herders, always known as ‘horse-wranglers’—one for the day and one for the night. 1901 Munsey's Mag. XXV. 405/2 One of them would..overpower the ‘wrangler’ in the darkness, and turn the horses loose. |
3. Also
Wrangler. A proprietary name for jeans. Freq.
pl. orig. U.S.| 1947 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 16 Dec. 395/2 Blue Bell, Inc., Greensboro, N.C... Wrangler. For Western style dungarees and pants. Claims use since Jan. 19, 1929. 1963 Trade Marks Jrnl. 16 Oct. 1478/1 Wrangler... Articles of protective clothing..and articles of sports clothing... Kilgour & Walker Limited.., Aberdeen; manufacturers. 1966 Ibid. 7 Sept. 1313/2 Wrangler... Articles of protective clothing..; trousers, jeans [etc.]. Blue Bell, Inc.., Greensboro, State of North Carolina. 1972 New Society 13 Apr. 68/2, I suggested..that..the girls..might like to travel in jeans and change into their best gear when we stopped for lunch. My idea..produced..a unanimous decision..that they were going in their wranglers anyway. 1978 D. Bloodworth Crosstalk xxvii. 211 A tall blond youth in wranglers and ringlets. 1981 C. Watson Bishop in Back Seat xxi. 131 He was in his regulation costume: Wrangler jeans, soiled Stetson. |
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orig. U.S. A person employed in the management, care, and training of animals on a film set. Also in extended use.
| [1930 Los Angeles Times 4 June ii. 2/4 Red Sly, another horse wrangler, who modestly admitted he sometimes works in the films.] 1937 N.Y. Times 29 Aug. x. 3/5 The horses had been taken to the location in the afternoon along with sixty wranglers, one for each five animals. The horses rented for $2.50 a head and each wrangler received $10. 1962 G. N. Fenin & W. K. Everson Western v. 104 Any wrangler working for him who failed to loosen his horse's cinch during the lunch break, or who was otherwise cruel or thoughtless, was dismissed on the spot. 1990 Premiere July 79/2 To get the spider to perform on cue, a slender thread was attached to him with wax, then passed through a hole in the top of the jar..to the hands of a spider wrangler perched on a cherrypicker above the camera. 1998 Vanity Fair Apr. 380/3 Mankiewicz was a great writer and skilled diva-wrangler, having finessed the egos of Taylor and Katharine Hepburn on Suddenly Last Summer. |