grasp

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   understanding of the nature or meaning or quality or magnitude of something

   I have a good grasp of accounting practices.

2. 2
   verb

   To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.

   How few! yet how they creep / Through my fingers to the deep, / While I weep—while I weep! / O God! can I not grasp / Them with a tighter clasp?

3. 3
   verb

   To understand.

   I have never been able to grasp the concept of infinity.

4. 4
   noun

   Grip.

   A vagrant gust of wind snatched the note from my grasp.

5. 5
   noun

   Understanding.

   There is for the mind but one grasp of happiness: from that uppermost pinnacle of wisdom, whence we see that this world is well designed.

6. 6
   noun

   That which is accessible; that which is within one's reach or ability.

   The goal is within my grasp.

7. 7
   noun

   the act of grasping

8. 8
   noun

   an intellectual hold or understanding

Etymology

From Middle English graspen, grapsen, craspen (“to grope; feel around”), from Old English *grǣpsian, from Proto-West Germanic *graipisōn, from Proto-Germanic *graipisōną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to take, seize, rake”), the same ultimate source as grab. Cognate with Saterland Frisian grapsje (“to grab, grasp”), German Low German grapsen (“to grab; grasp”), German grapsen and grapschen, Old English grāpian ("to touch, feel, grasp"; > Modern English grope). Compare also Swedish krafsa (“to scatch; scabble”), Norwegian krafse (“to scramble”).