Comprehend, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Comprehended; p. pr. & vb. n. Comprehending.]
Etymology: [L. comprehendere, comprehensum; com- + prehendere to grasp, seize; prae before + hendere (used only in comp.). See Get, and cf. Comprise.]
1. To contain; to embrace; to include; as, the states comprehended in the Austrian Empire. Who hath . . . comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure. Is. xl. 12.
2. To take in or include by construction or implication; to comprise; to imply. Comprehended all in this one word, Discretion. Hobbes. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying. Rom. xiii. 9.
3. To take into the mind; to grasp with the understanding; to apprehend the meaning of; to understand. At a loss to comprehend the question. W. Irwing. Great things doeth he, which we can not comprehend. Job. xxxvii. 5.
Syn. -- To contain; include; embrace; comprise; inclose; grasp; embody; involve; imply; apprehend; imagine; conceive; understand. See Apprehend.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for comprehend; he lists it under catch, perceive.
Where he writes about it:
In the figurative sense, catch is used of any act that brings a person or thing into our power or possession; as, to catch a criminal in the act; to catch an idea, in the sense of apprehend or comprehend. — from catch
That which we apprehend we catch, as with the hand; that which we conceive we are able to analyze and recompose in our mind; that which we comprehend, we, as it were, grasp around, take together, seize, embrace wholly within the mind. — from perceive
Many things may be apprehended which can not be comprehended; a child can apprehend the distinction between right and wrong, yet the philosopher can not comprehend it in its fulness. — from perceive
We can apprehend the will of God as revealed in conscience or the Scriptures; we can conceive of certain attributes of Deity, as his truth and justice; but no finite intelligence can comprehend the Divine Nature, in its majesty, power, and perfection. — from perceive