grasp

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“
I stretched forth my hand to detain it, and in my grasp was a shadowy sceptre.

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Definitions (27)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (10)

  1. transitive verb To take hold of or seize firmly with or as if with the hand.
  2. transitive verb To clasp firmly with or as if with the hand.
  3. transitive verb To take hold of intellectually; comprehend. See Synonyms at apprehend.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Even more lacking in exact and extended musical science than Donizetti, he could express what came within his range with a simple vigor, grasp, and beauty, which make him a truly dramatic composer. —  Great Italian and French Composers
  • Tala took his in a firm grasp, and they shook hands. —  Kate Douglas, Lacy Danes, Morgan Hawke - Sexy Beast III
  • Yet it may play a great role in extending life's grasp, as well. —  F ;SF - vol 091 issue 02 - August 1996
  • The chair glanced from Thak's slanted black skull; but the stunned monster momentarily relaxed his rending grasp, and in that instant Conan, gasping and streaming blood, plunged forward and sank his poniard to the hilt in the apeman's heart. —  Conan -- The Stories from Weird Tales (1932-1936)
  • She only saw that he evaded that deadly grasp, and his sword, flashing like a jet of white lightning, sheared through one of those massive arms between shoulder and elbow. —  Conan -- The Stories from Weird Tales (1932-1936)
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This word has been looked up 149 times.

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

grip ·  embrace ·  understanding ·  insight ·  comprehension ·  appreciation ·  conception ·  clutch ·  mastery ·  gaze ·  determination ·  stroke

Used in the same contextWord Family

grasp:   grasping ·  grasped
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English graspen; see ghrebh-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English graspen, for orig. *grapsen = Low German grapsen, grasp, snatch; with verb-formative -s, as in cleanse, bless, etc., from Middle English grapien, grapen, take hold of, touch, grope: see grope. grape.
  2. from grasp, v.
 

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/græsp/
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