Ap-pre-hĕnd’1, v. t.
v. t. [imp. & p. p. APPREHENDED; p. pr. & vb. n. APPREHENDING.] [Fr. appréhender, Pr. appréhendre, apprehender; Lat. apprehendere, from ad and prehendere, to lay hold of, to seize, from præ, before, and root hend: A-S. hentan, gehentan, to lay hold of; Icel. henda.]
Sense 1. (Lit.) To take or seize; to take hold of; as, “We have two hands to apprehend it.” Bp. Taylor.
☞ In this sense, it is applied chiefly to taking or arresting persons by legal process, or with a view to trial; as, to apprehend a criminal.
Sense 2. To take hold of with the understanding, that is, to conceive in the mind; to understand; to believe.
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. Fuller.
Sense 3. 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. Beau. & Fl.
Sense 4. To fear; to entertain suspicion or fear of; as, we justly apprehend calamities from a feeble or wicked administration.
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 apprehend 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 apprehend 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.” Trench.