grapling
n.— «The men and boys would wade out into the waters of the Savannah, and it was called graplin’. They would run their hands under the rocks and grab an object that was not a rock. Many times I saw a snake being hurled across the water. Some wiser and experienced men would fix a hook on a thimble and grab, therefore the term, grablin.’» —“Jolly green johnny” Independent-Mail (Anderson, S.C.) July 17, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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