A death grip is an extremely tight grip, such as that exerted by a person in a panic for fear for their life. This was commonly thought to be a risk when rescuing a drowning person — that they would cling to their rescuer with a death grip which would cause them both to perish. Investigation showed that this did not actually happen in practise and so breaking a death grip is no longer emphasised in lifesaving. The actual behaviour of a drowning person is more passive as they lack the oxygen to take violent action and an instinctive paddling reflex occurs. The grip can also be lethal to living things.
Famous quotes containing the words death and/or grip:
“The grief of the keen is no personal complaint for the death of one woman over eighty years, but seems to contain the whole passionate rage that lurks somewhere in every native of the island. In this cry of pain the inner consciousness of the people seems to lay itself bare for an instant, and to reveal the mood of beings who feel their isolation in the face of a universe that wars on them with winds and seas.”
—J.M. (John Millington)
“You are the brave who do not break
In the grip of the mob when the blow comes straight
To the shattered bone;”
—Raymond R. Patterson (b. 1929)