/ɡɹɑːsp/, /ɡɹasp/, /ɡɹæsp/
OriginFrom 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”).
- 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?”
- To understand.
“I have never been able to grasp the concept of infinity.”
- To take advantage of something, to seize, to jump at a chance.
- figuratively, sometimesGrip.
“A vagrant gust of wind snatched the note from my grasp.”
“in the tyrant's grasp”
“What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!”
- 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.”
- That which is accessible; that which is within one's reach or ability.
“The goal is within my grasp.”
- abbreviation, acronym, alt-ofAcronym of General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns (or Principles).
- abbreviation, acronym, alt-ofAcronym of Gamepedia Rapid Anti-Spam Patrol.
Formsgrasps(present, singular, third-person) · grasping(participle, present) · grasped(participle, past) · grasped(past) · grasp(infinitive) · grasp(first-person, present, singular) · grasped(first-person, past, singular) · grasp(present, second-person, singular) · graspest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · grasped(past, second-person, singular) · graspedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · graspeth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · grasped(past, singular, third-person) · grasp(plural, present) · grasped(past, plural) · grasp(present, subjunctive) · grasped(past, subjunctive) · grasp(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past) · graps(alternative)