Definition of "wrangler"

The Seas and Windes (old Wranglers) tooke a Truce, / And did him ſeruice; he touch'd the Ports desir'd,

c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]

Even as I stretched my arms and shivered a little, the two wranglers threw down their tin plates with a clatter, mounted horses and rode away in the direction of the thousand acres or so known as the pasture.

1907, Stewart Edward White, chapter 5, in Arizona Nights‎

During all this excursion, she condescended to say civil things to him: she quoted Italian and French poetry to the poor bewildered lad, and persisted that he was a fine scholar, and was perfectly sure he would gain a gold medal, and be a Senior Wrangler.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter XXXIV, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848