Grasp, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Grasper; p. pr. & vb. n. Qraspine.]
Etymology: [OE. graspen; prob. akin to LG. grupsen, or to E. grope. Cf. Grab, Grope.]
1. 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.
2. To lay hold of with the mind; to become thoroughly acquainted or conversant with; to comprehend.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Grasp, v. i.
To effect a grasp; to make the motion of grasping; to clutch; to struggle; to strive. As one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued. Shak. To grasp at, to catch at; to try to seize; as, Alexander grasped at universal empire,
Grasp, n.
1. A gripe or seizure of the hand; a seizure by embrace, or infolding in the arms. "The grasps of love." Shak.
2. Reach of the arms; hence, the power of seizing and holding; as, it was beyond his grasp.
3. Forcible possession; hold. The whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp. Shak.
4. Wide-reaching power of intellect to comprehend subjects and hold them under survey. The foremost minds of the next . . . era were not, in power of grasp, equal to their predecessors. Z. Taylor.
5. The handle of a sword or of an oar.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for grasp; he lists it under attain, catch.
Where he writes about it:
We clutch with a swift, tenacious movement of the fingers; we grasp with a firm but moderate closure of the whole hand; we grip or gripe with the strongest muscular closure of the whole hand possible to exert. — from catch