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Apprehend

//ˌæpɹɪˈhɛnd// verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To be or become aware of (something); to perceive. transitive

    "[…] Angel ſignifieth there, nothing but God himſelf, that cauſed Agar ſupernaturally to apprehend a voice from heaven; or rather, nothing elſe but a Voice ſupernaturall, teſtifying Gods ſpeciall preſence there."

  2. 2
    get the meaning of something wordnet
  3. 3
    To acknowledge the existence of (something); to recognize. transitive

    "[E]ach man for his own sake / Accepts you as his guide, avails him of what worth / He apprehends in you to sublimate his earth / With fire: […]"

  4. 4
    take into custody wordnet
  5. 5
    To take hold of (something) with understanding; to conceive (something) in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand. transitive

    "If to apprehend Chriſte be vnderſtanded, to dvvell in Chriſte, and to haue him dvvell in vs, it is not true that Chriſte is apprehended in that ſorte, by onely faith vvithout charitie. […] He apprehendeth Chriſte truely, that cleaueth vnto Chriſt, and the glue vvhereby the ſovvle is fastned vnto Chriſte, ſaith S. Auguſtine, is charitie: […]"

Show 11 more definitions
  1. 6
    anticipate with dread or anxiety wordnet
  2. 7
    To have a conception of (something); to consider, to regard. transitive

    "Tim[on]. That's a laſciuious apprehenſion. / Ape[mantus]. So, thou apprehend'ſt it, / Take it for thy labour."

  3. 8
    To anticipate (something, usually unpleasant); especially, to anticipate (something) with anxiety, dread, or fear; to dread, to fear. transitive

    "O let my Lady apprehend no feare, / In all Cupids pageant there is preſented no monſter."

  4. 9
    To seize or take (something); to take hold of. also, archaic, figuratively, obsolete, transitive

    "Nicias a certaine hunter going abroad in the woods, chaunced to fall into a heape of burning coales, hauing no helpe about him but his dogs, there he periſhed, yet they ranne to the high waies and ceaſed not with barking and apprehending the garments of paſſengers, to ſhew vnto them ſome direfull euent: and at laſt one of the trauailers followed the dogs, and came to the place where they ſaw the man conſumed, and by that coniectured the whole ſtory."

  5. 10
    To seize or take (a person) by legal process; to arrest. transitive

    "Officers apprehended the suspect two streets away from the bank."

  6. 11
    To feel (something) emotionally. obsolete, transitive

    "[H]ow it worketh in the mindes and soules of them that haue no power to apprehend such felicitie, it is not for me to intimate, because it is preiudiciall to our monarchie."

  7. 12
    To learn (something). obsolete, transitive

    "Undowghtedly in a prince or noble man may be nothinge more excellent, ye nothing more necessarye, than to aduance men after the estimation of their goodnes; and that for two speciall commodities that do come thereof. Fyrste, that thereby they prouoke many men to apprehende vertue."

  8. 13
    To take possession of (something); to seize. also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive

    "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which alſo I am apprehended of Chriſt Jeſus."

  9. 14
    To be of opinion, believe, or think; to suppose. intransitive, transitive

    "Sir, if you haue a minde to mocke him, mocke him ſoftly, and looke to'ther way: for if hee apprehend you flout him, once, he will flie at you preſently. A terrible teſtie old fellow, and his name is Waſpe too."

  10. 15
    To understand. intransitive, transitive

    "Coſin you apprehend paſſing ſhrewdly."

  11. 16
    To be apprehensive; to fear. intransitive, transitive

    "Death never happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives. It is worse to apprehend than to suffer."

Etymology

From Late Middle English apprehenden (“to grasp, take hold of; to comprehend; to learn”), from Old French apprehender (modern French appréhender (“to apprehend; to catch; to dread”)), from Latin apprehendere, adprehendere, the present active infinitive of apprehendō, adprehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, take; to apprehend, arrest; to comprehend, understand; to embrace, include; to take possession of, obtain, secure”), from ap-, ad- (prefix meaning ‘to’) + prehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, snatch, take; to accost; to catch in the act, take by surprise; (figuratively, rare) of the mind: to apprehend, comprehend, grasp”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to hold, seize, take; to find”)).

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