Fair of the grapple : locut. family Situation where several people try to gain an advantage.
The verb grab contains a deformation of fist and first meant "to grasp strongly". It then took on the familiar meaning of 'holding (or grabbing) someone'. It is in 1773 that appears be part of the rat race with an unexpected meaning today, but not surprising for the time, since it meant "to be brought to the rude touching towards women" (in TLFi). And, perhaps because a beautiful woman stirs up envy, this same expression took, during the second half of the XIXe century, the direction of "to fight with others to seize something".
This is how the rat race first became a place where we tear off objects before, metaphorically, designate a situation where several people try to snatch an advantage, typical of what we can find among politicians, among others.
The expression was transformed into a verb: "foired'empoigner" (to jostle, to tear oneself apart) by the author of French detective novels Frédéric Dard (1921-2000).
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