fight vs grapple

fight

verb
  • To contend in physical conflict with each other, either singly or in war, battle etc. 

  • To conduct or engage in (battle, warfare etc.). 

  • To engage in combat with; to oppose physically, to contest with. 

  • Of colours or other design elements: to clash; to fail to harmonize. 

  • To try to overpower; to fiercely counteract. 

  • To contend in physical conflict, either singly or in war, battle etc. 

  • To strive for something; to campaign or contend for success. 

noun
  • An occasion of fighting. 

  • A physical confrontation or combat between two or more people or groups. 

  • A conflict, possibly nonphysical, with opposing ideas or forces; strife. 

  • The will or ability to fight. 

  • A boxing or martial arts match. 

grapple

verb
  • To wrestle or tussle. 

  • To hook and raise with a grapple. 

  • To ponder and intensely evaluate a problem; to struggle to deal with. 

  • To climb (whether by means of a grapple and rope, or by hand, etc). 

  • To fasten, as with a grapple; (by extension) to fix; to join indissolubly. 

  • To seize something and hold it firmly. 

  • To use a grapple (for example to attempt to find, hook, and raise a net or cable). 

noun
  • A grapnel (“type of anchor”). 

  • A close hand-to-hand struggle. 

  • A combination of grape and apple flavors. 

  • The act of grappling. (uncountable) 

  • A device consisting of iron claws, attached to the end of a rope, used for grasping and holding an enemy ship prior to boarding; a grappling iron. 

How often have the words fight and grapple occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )