GRASP • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Grasp

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/græsp/ Listen

noun

Grasp n.

A gripe or seizure of the hand; a seizure by embrace, or infolding in the arms. "The grasps of love."

Reach of the arms; hence, the power of seizing and holding; as, it was beyond his grasp.

Forcible possession; hold. "The whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp."

Wide-reaching power of intellect to comprehend subjects and hold them under survey. "The foremost minds of the next... era were not, in power of grasp, equal to their predecessors."

The handle of a sword or of an oar.

verb

Grasp v. t. (past & past part. grasper; pres. part. qraspine)

To seize and hold by clasping or embracing with the fingers or arms; to catch to take possession of. "Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff."

To lay hold of with the mind; to become thoroughly acquainted or conversant with; to comprehend.

Grasp v. i. To effect a grasp; to make the motion of grasping; to clutch; to struggle; to strive. "As one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued."

To grasp at, to catch at; to try to seize; as, Alexander grasped at universal empire,

See images of 'Grasp'

Etymology of 'Grasp'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Grasp" Quotes from Famous Books

... "it was. More dreadful than you people at home can ever grasp. But I want you to know this, Becky, that there isn't one of us who wouldn't go through it again ...

— The Trumpeter Swan • Temple Bailey

... himself from the bed, seized Richard by the throat, and with all the strength he could summon did his best to strangle him. For a time Richard allowed him to spend his rage, then removed his grasp as gently as he could, and holding both his wrists in his left hand, ...

— St. George and St. Michael • George MacDonald

... begin—here the gate where they had stood when he gave her his warning: "Whatever that future brings, Edith, don't blame me." No, she blamed nobody but herself; the happiness of her life had lain within her grasp, and she had stretched forth her hand and pushed it away. There was the open window where he used to sit, in the days of his convalesence, and amuse himself setting her inflammable temper alight. It was all associated with him. Then the house door opens, a tall, elderly man comes out, there ...

— A Terrible Secret • May Agnes Fleming

... instant he had resumed his position behind it, and Calumet could tell from the rapidity of his movements that he had not been hit. He saw the rifle lying where it had fallen, and he was meditating a quick rush toward the rock when he saw Taggart's hand come out and grasp the stock of the weapon, dragging it back to him. Calumet whipped a bullet at the hand, but the only result was a ...

— The Boss of the Lazy Y • Charles Alden Seltzer

... of the escaped prisoners, who, it will be remembered, was drummed out of his tribe and sentenced by the courts for the murder of a white settler last spring. Small outlying settlements will rejoice when this body of hardened desperate men are once more in the grasp of the law." ...

— The Boy Chums in the Forest - or Hunting for Plume Birds in the Florida Everglades • Wilmer M. Ely

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