Wiktionary
n. A type of hook attached to a line and designed to be thrown at a target (e.g. rigging of an enemy ship) for the purpose of catching hold of it.
WordNet
n. a tool consisting of several hooks for grasping and holding; often thrown with a rope [syn: grapnel, grapple, grappler, grappling iron]
Wikipedia
A grappling hook is a device with multiple hooks (known as claws or flukes), attached to a rope; it is thrown, dropped, sunk, projected, or fastened directly by hand to where at least one hook may catch and hold. Generally, grappling hooks are used to temporarily secure one end of a rope. They may also be used to dredge for submerged objects. Historically, grappling hooks were used in naval warfare to catch ship rigging so that it could be boarded.
A common design has a central shaft with a hole ("eye") at the shaft base to attach the rope, and three equally spaced hooks at the end, arranged that at least one is likely to catch on some protuberance of the target. Some modern designs feature folding hooks to resist unwanted attachment. Most grappling hooks are thrown by hand, but some used in rescue work are propelled by compressed air (e.g., the Plumett AL-52), mortar or a rocket.
Grappling hooks are used by combat engineers breaching tactical obstacles. When used as such, the grappling hook is launched in front of an obstacle and dragged backwards to detonate trip-wire-fused land mines, and can be hooked on wire obstacles and pulled to set off booby traps on the wire. Two tools are available for this purpose; the rifle-launched grapnel, a single-use grappling hook placed on the end of an M4/ M16 rifle, or the crossbow launched version.
A grapnel can clear up to 99% of the trip-wires in a single pass.
Grappling Hook is a first-person shooter video game which contains both platform and puzzle elements. It was released on September 18, 2009 for the Windows platform and on September 21 for Mac OS X, a Linux version was later released. The player must collect passcodes from throughout 31 three dimensional stages, using the titular grappling hook to swing from green surfaces in order to progress.
The game was developed by Christian Teister, the sole member of SpeedRunGames, who had previously worked on some smaller indie games and the stealth game Velvet Assassin. Inspired by a fast paced first-person shooter mod called Cold Ice, Teister wished to couple the mod's speed with the puzzle gameplay made possible by the grappling hook.
Usage examples of "grappling hook".
The grappling hook had dug its points into the rock on the first attempt and was holding firm.
Baylee secured the grappling hook around a tree bole, then shook out the length of rope.
The rope was drawn taut, and the tongs of the crude grappling hook dug between the logs.
A fourth and a fifth grappling hook dug into the wall, and the soldiers started hauling at the ropes.
The rope is attached to a grappling hook that has caught in the jagged, broken fiberglass on one side of the yacht.
There was absolutely no handhold, no secure hold beyond for a grappling hook.
With the blade I slashed down, cutting the rope taut on the grappling hook caught over the wood.