comprehend, v.
(kɒmprɪˈhɛnd)
[ad. L. comprehend-ĕre to grasp, seize, comprise, f. com- + prehendĕre to seize. The Fr. repr. of the L. is comprendre (cf. comprend); but OF. had also comprehender as a learned adaptation of the L., which may have been partly the source of this.
(The order of appearance of the senses in Eng. was not that of the original development in Latin: some senses, as 2, appeared early through literalism of translation: others, as 4, because a word was wanted for such at the time, while there was no such want in sense 1.)]
I. To seize, grasp, lay hold of, catch.
† 1. trans. To lay hold of, to seize, to grasp; to ‘catch’, entrap. Obs.
[Of late and rare occurrence.]
| 1584 Cecil in Neal Hist. Purit. (1732) I. 426 The Inquisition of Spain used not so many questions to comprehend and trap their priests. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. ix. Repentance §7 Though thou art almost in the embraces of death, yet thou shalt be comprehended of immortality. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 216 They..comprehend the Veins about the throat. |
† b. As an illiterate blunder for apprehend.
| 1599 Shakes. Much Ado iii. iii. 25 You shall comprehend all vagrom men. Ibid. iii. v. 50 Our watch sir haue indeede comprehended two aspitious persons. |
† 2. To overtake, come up with and seize. Obs.
[A literalism of translation.]
| 1382 Wyclif Philipp. iii. 12, I sue if on ony maner I schal comprehende [Vulg. comprehendam, Gr. καταλάβω] and in what thing I am comprehendid of Crist Jhesu. 1557 N. T. (Genev.) ibid., I folowe, if that I may comprehende that for whose sake I am comprehended of Christ Iesus. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 561 If any man do begin to follow after either of them..he is not able to comprehend or attain them with a Horse. |
† b. To overtake or attain to (something aimed at); to compass, accomplish. Obs.
In 1485 perh. ‘aim, attempt’, or ‘undertake, take in hand’.
| c 1450 Lonelich Grail xxxvi. 638 Neuere myht Comprehende no [MS. In] Mannes Miht Swich Anothir tombe to Make. c 1485 Digby Myst. (1882) Mary Magd. 446 Your servant to be, I wold comprehende. 1576 Fleming Panop. Epist. 81 For that whiche I was not able to comprehend and performe, I thought good, first not to touche. Ibid. 273 Such..are not sufficient to compasse that, which is in our power to comprehend. |
† 3. absol. To catch hold and grow, as a graft. Obs. [So in L.]
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. iv. 37 Graffyng nygh the grounde Is best, ther easily thai comprehende. Ibid. v. 46 But first this craffes [grafts] wel must comprehende. |
II. To lay hold of with the mind or senses.
4. trans. To grasp with the mind, conceive fully or adequately, understand, ‘take in’. (App. the earliest sense in English.)
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 7463 Þarfor swa many payns tylle þam salle falle Þat na witt may comprehende þam alle. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. iv. 165 [Resoun] comprehendeþ by an vniuersel lokynge þe commune spece [speciem] þat is in þe singuler peces. 1401 Pol. Poems (1859) II. 104 Goddis privy domes man may not comprehende. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 13 The artikillis of the crede can nocht be comprehendit be natural reasone. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. To King, Able to compass and comprehend the greatest matters, and nevertheless to touch and apprehend the least. 1628 Donne Serm. 1 Cor. xiii. 12 To comprehend is to know a thing as well as that thing can be known. 1755 Young Centaur i. Wks. 1757 IV. 115 Those things which our hands can grasp, our understandings cannot comprehend. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 152 Those..do not comprehend the real nature of the crisis. 1886 J. K. Jerome Idle Thoughts vii, Voices are calling us to some great effort..But we do not comprehend their meaning yet. |
b. with obj. clause.
| 1547 Hooper Declar. Christ viii, Mari..could not comprehend how Christ was made man in here bely. 1771 Junius Lett. xlvi. 246, I cannot comprehend how it can honestly be disputed. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 63 He perfectly comprehended that the drift of the discourse was to persuade him to resign his sceptre. 1859 Mill Liberty iii. (1865) 33/1 The majority..cannot comprehend why those ways should not be good enough for everybody. |
c. To understand (a person).
| 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxiv. 171, I expressed a hope that he did comprehend me. 1886 Sheldon tr. Flaubert's Salammbô 16 Without comprehending her, the soldiers crowded around her. |
5. To grasp, take in, or apprehend with the senses, esp. sight. [L. comprehendere visu.]
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. iv. 164 Þe touchinge cliuiþ and conioigneþ to þe rounde body and..comprehendiþ by parties þe roundenesse. Ibid. Þe wit comprehendiþ..þe figure of þe body of þe man þat is establissed in þe matere subiect. 1732 Pope Ess. Man i. 195 Say what the use, were finer optics giv'n, To inspect a mite, not comprehend the heav'n. 1867 Howells Ital. Journ. iii. 14 The vision of Tasso could..comprehend the lady at her casement in the castle. |
III. To take in, comprise, include, contain.
† 6. To lay hold of all the points of (any thing) and include them within the compass of a description or expression; to embrace or describe summarily; summarize; sum up. Obs.
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 903, I haue no wytte that kan suffyse To comprehende hir beautie. c 1374 ― Anel. & Arc. 83 And shortly if she shal be comprehended, In her ne mighte no-thing been amended. 1382 Wyclif Dan. vii. 1 The visioun..he wrytynge comprehendide in short word. 1611 Bible Rom. xiii. 9. 1612 Bacon Ess., Empire (Arb.) 309 All preceptes concernyng kinges, are in effect comprehended, in those two Remembrances. |
7. To include or comprise in a treatise or discourse: now more usually said of the book, etc.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Macc. ii. 24 To abregge in to oo boke, thingus comprehendid of Jason of Cyrenen in fyue bokis. 1443 Test. Ebor. (Surtees Soc.) 132 A some of mone that is comprehend in my wyll. c 1530 Egyngecourte 366 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 107 In this boke I cannot comprehende..y⊇ sege of Rone. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. Title-p., The second Volume comprehendeth the principall Navigations..to the South. 1709 Hearne Collect. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 252 'Tis a most pernicious Book, comprehending several strange Doctrines. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 267 The fourth chapter comprehends; 1st, The chief affections, etc. |
b. To include in scope, application, or meaning.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶447 In þe name of þi neighboure is comprehended his enemye. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 170 Comprehendyng..in our prayer all the chirche of christianite. 1597 Morley Introd. Mus. 3 These two..though they be both comprehended vnder one name. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxvii. 154 Poore, obscure, and simple men, comprehended under the name of the Vulgar. 1717 Col. Rec. Penn. III. 38 Their..Circumstances are not Comprehended within the terms of his Majesties Proclamacon. 1863 Lyell Antiq. Man 6 A single term to comprehend both divisions of the..period. |
c. To include in the same category.
| 1798 Jane Austen Northang. Abb. (1833) II. xv. 203 Far from comprehending him or his sister in their father's misconduct. |
8. Of a space, period, or amount: To take in, contain, comprise, include.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 117 The signes..Eche after other..The zodiaque comprehendeth Within his cercle. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. ii. 6 The heauens of all heauens maye not comprehende him. 1594 Blundevil Exerc. i. v. (ed. 7) 14, 5 is comprehended in 48, 9 times. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. §4 The age which passed..comprehending a succession of six princes. 1675 Hobbes Odyssey iv, As much as both his hands could comprehend. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) I. i. 179 Egypt comprehended anciently..a prodigious number of cities. 1878 Tait & Stewart Unseen Univ. ii. §86. 96 The visible universe cannot comprehend the whole works of God. |
b. transf. and fig.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1638 As muche ioye as herte may comprehende. 1642 Perkins Prof. Bk. iv. §261 Every exchange comprehends in it a condition. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 505 Enjoy Your fill what happiness this happie state Can comprehend. 1713 Guardian No. 1 ¶5 All sorrows..are comprehended in the sense of guilt and pain. 1857 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets ii. 77 The higher works of art comprehend a fund of intellectual interest inexhaustible. |
9. To enclose or include in or within limits.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. (MS. A.) 123 Þe..drie pelewe..schal comprehende þe tweie wete & bynde hem faste. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 55 Seynt Elene comprehendide þis hille of Caluarie and þe sepulcre of Crist and oþer holy plaas in one faire chirche. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xxx. 4 Who hath comprehended y⊇ waters in a garment? 1596 Drayton Legends iii. 452 Some swelling source (Whose plentie none can comprehend in bounds). 1662 Brooks Wks. II. 178 As able to comprehend the sea in a cockle⁓shell. 1781 J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. vii. 73 To comprehend it within their dominions. |
b. fig. To include in a measurement or estimate; to take into account.
| 1643 Evelyn Diary 12 Nov., The church was..80 [foote] in height, without comprehending the cover. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. VI. 96 We mean to comprehend in our calculation both the value of the thing parted with, and the value of the thing received in exchange. |
10. To contain as a line or surface; to encompass; esp. in Geom.
| 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. iv. 3 A metelyne of thirtie cubites mighte comprehende it aboute. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. def. xxi. 4 Vnder lesse then three lines, can no figure be comprehended. 1571 Digges Pantom. iv. xxiii. E e ij, Icosaedrons comprehendyng cubes side is double in power to his comprehended Octaedrons side. 1717 Berkeley Tour Italy 21 Jan., There was some external wall that comprehended both rows of pillars. 1764 Reid Inquiry vi. §9 Wks. I. 147/2 The visible angle comprehended under two visible right lines. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 153 The upright pieces..which comprehend the panels. |
b. To enclose or have within it; to contain; to lie around. ? Obs.
| 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 10 A flat grauestone, comprehending the name of the defunct. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 183 Full of golden coloured Cloves..each of which comprehends a white bone. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 2 The Air, comprehending the Earth. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. i. ii. 80 A stone coffin, comprehending a human skeleton. |
IV. † 11. ? To take (together). Obs. rare.
| c 1485 Digby Myst., Mary Magd. 412 We are ryth glad we haue yow here Ower covnsell togethyr to comprehend. |