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Apprehend   /ˌæprɪhˈɛnd/   Listen
verb
Apprehend  v. t.  (past & past part. apprehended; pres. part. apprehending)  
1.
To take or seize; to take hold of. (Archaic) "We have two hands to apprehend it."
2.
Hence: To take or seize (a person) by legal process; to arrest; as, to apprehend a criminal.
3.
To take hold of with the understanding, that is, to conceive in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand; to recognize; to consider. "This suspicion of Earl Reimund, though at first but a buzz, soon got a sting in the king's head, and he violently apprehended it." "The eternal laws, such as the heroic age apprehended them."
4.
To know or learn with certainty. (Obs.) "G. You are too much distrustful of my truth. E. Then you must give me leave to apprehend The means and manner how."
5.
To anticipate; esp., to anticipate with anxiety, dread, or fear; to fear. "The opposition had more reason than the king to apprehend violence."
Synonyms: To catch; seize; arrest; detain; capture; conceive; understand; imagine; believe; fear; dread. To Apprehend, Comprehend. These words come into comparison as describing acts of the mind. Apprehend denotes the laying hold of a thing mentally, so as to understand it clearly, at least in part. Comprehend denotes the embracing or understanding it in all its compass and extent. We may apprehended many truths which we do not comprehend. The very idea of God supposes that he may be apprehended, though not comprehended, by rational beings. "We may apprehended much of Shakespeare's aim and intention in the character of Hamlet or King Lear; but few will claim that they have comprehended all that is embraced in these characters."



Apprehend  v. i.  
1.
To think, believe, or be of opinion; to understand; to suppose.
2.
To be apprehensive; to fear. "It is worse to apprehend than to suffer."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Apprehend" Quotes from Famous Books



... master, "I now see you do not apprehend the position. I didn't care to say to you that the captain had a vision off Cape Horn which decided him to ...
— Windjammers and Sea Tramps • Walter Runciman

... than he gave up the monopolist as a victim. King James, too, who had bullied and insulted all who complained, seeing that parliament was in a truly formidable humour, went sneaking there, and boasted of having done his best to apprehend Sir Giles. 'For I do assure you,' he said, 'in the heart of an honest man, and on the faith of a Christian king, which both ye and all the world know me to be, had these things been complained of to me before the parliament, I would have done the office ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 440 - Volume 17, New Series, June 5, 1852 • Various

... quoted from Wordsworth to illustrate his theory of the personal attributes of nature. In some of his more elevated passages nature in all her processes is regarded as the intimate revelation of the Godhead, the radiant garment in which the Deity clothes Himself that our senses may apprehend Him. Thus, when we touch a tree or a flower we may be said to touch God himself. In this way the beauty and power of nature become sacred for Wordsworth, and inspired his verse at times with a solemn dignity to which other ...
— Selections from Wordsworth and Tennyson • William Wordsworth and Alfred Lord Tennyson

... from the unfortunate gentleman. After a reference to the kidneys, he seemed to wish for something to be found in the coal-hole, or the cider-cellar; but the search of the servant below stairs was unavailing. I now began to apprehend delirium. To be sure of the state of his mind, I inquired if there were any clergyman whom he would wish to see: He exclaimed, "O venerable old Offley!" But when I expressed to the servants a wish that ...
— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 472 - Vol. XVII. No. 472., Saturday, January 22, 1831 • Various

... of which is encircled by a glandular ring, which secretes a viscid honey-like substance, to this part of the stigma the Antherae interiorly adhere most tenaciously, so as to prevent their separation unless considerable force be applied; it is, as we apprehend, the sweet viscid substance thus secreted by the stigma, within the Antherae, which the fly endeavours to obtain, and to this end insinuates its trunk first into the lowermost and widest part of the slit, betwixt each of the Antherae above described, pushing ...
— The Botanical Magazine Vol. 8 - Or, Flower-Garden Displayed • William Curtis


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