3 entries under this word
[imp. & p. p. GRASPED (grāsp't); p. pr. & vb. n. GRASPING.] [L. Ger. grapsen, from O. Ger. grappen, grabben. See GRAB.] To seize and hold by clasping or embracing with the fingers or arms; to catch; to take possession of. Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff. Shak.
v. i. To effect a grasp; to gripe; to struggle; to strive. [Obs.] Dryden.
To grasp at, to catch at; to try to seize; as, Alexander grasped at universal empire.
n. 1. The gripe or seizure of the hand; a seizure by embrace, or infolding in the arms.
Sense 2. Reach of the arms; hence, the power of seizing and holding; forcible possession. “The tyrant’s grasp.” Shak.
Sense 3. Wide-reaching power of intellect to comprehend subjects.
The foremost minds of the following intellectual era were not, in power or grasp, equal to their predecessors. L. Taylor.