▪ I. grope, n.1
(grəʊp)
Also 1 gráp, 3 grap, 6 Sc. graip.
[In sense 1, repr. OE. gráp (see grope v.); in sense 2, f. grope v.]
† 1. Grasp; fig. grasp of a subject. Obs.
| Beowulf 555 Me..fæste hæfde grim on grape. c 1000 Guthlac 407 Wæron hy reowe to ræsanne ᵹifrum grapum. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 855 Esculapies creftes, & Galienes grapes [L. sagacissimas latentium rerum inventiones]. |
2. The action or an act of groping. lit. and fig.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems liv. 7 Scho is..lyk a gangarall unto graip. 1894 Kingdom (Minneapolis) 20 Apr., The grope of a stricken soul. 1899 Speaker 2 Sept. 237/1 A step and a grope would tell me. |
▪ II. † grope, n.2 Obs.
A kind of nail.
| [1411 in Rogers Agric. & Pr. (1882) III. 546/3, 50 grope & 1 c clout nails.] 1425 in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 253 In clavis carectat., gropys, et aliis ferramentis..xii sol. iv den. 1720 Strype Stow's Surv. Lond. (1754) II. v. x. 280 The length and breadth of the Gropes belonging to the wheels of the Carts. |
▪ III. grope, v.
(grəʊp)
Forms: 1 grápian, 3 grapien, grapin, gropien, 4 gropen, (pa. pple. ygrope), 4–6, 9 Sc. and north. grape, 5 gropyn, groop(e, 5, 7 groppe, 6–8 groap(e, Sc. graip, 3– grope.
[OE. grápian = OHG. greiphôn, greifôn:—OTeut. *graipôjan, f. *graipâ fem. (OE. gráp grasp, OHG. greifa fork = graip), f. *graip-, ablaut-var. of *grī̆p-, whence grip n.1 and v.1]
† 1. intr. To use the hands in feeling, touching, or grasping; to handle or feel something. Obs.
| Beowulf 2085 He mæᵹnes rof min costode grapode ᵹearo⁓folm. c 825 Vesp. Ps. cxiii. 15 [cxv. 7] Honda habbað & ne grapiað. a 1000 Riddles xlvi. 3 Ic..on þæt banlease bryd grapode hyᵹewlonc hondum. c 1205 Lay. 30269 He grapede an his nebbe he wende þat bledde. c 1325 Old Age in E.E.P. (1862) 149 Ihc ne mai no more grope vnder gore. 1382 Wyclif Wisd. xv. 15 The maumetis of naciouns..to the whiche nouther siȝte of eȝen is to seen..ne fingris of hondis to gropen. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 683 Look what ther is, put in thyn hand and grope. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. lv, Now may þou grope [L. palpare] that this ymage is not nought. 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. v. xliv. in Ashm. (1652) 159 Fyrst examyn, grope and taste. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. x. (Percy Soc.) 37 They grope over where is no felynge. 1568 Gd. Counsel 19 in Kingis Q. (S.T.S.) 52 Graip or thow slyd, and creip furth on the way. |
2. To attempt to find something by feeling about as in the dark or as a blind person; to feel for (or after) something with the hand (or other tactile organ, rarely with an instrument); to feel about in order to find one's way.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 151 Hie grapodan mid heora handum on þa eorþan, & nystan hwyder hie eodan. c 1000 ælfric Deut. xxviii. 29 Þæt þu grapie on midne dæᵹ, swa se blinda deð on þistrum. c 1386 Chaucer Reeve's T. 302 She gropeth alwey forther with hir hond And foond the bed. c 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas iii. vi. 16 With her handes for to fele his hede, And to grope after both his eares twayne. c 1440 York Myst. xlvi. 238 Go we groppe wher we graued hir, If we fynde ouȝte þat faire one in fere nowe. 1535 Coverdale Ruth iii. 8 Now whan it was midnight, the man was afrayed, and groped aboute. 1565–73 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 211 Robson groped about his girdle for his key. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 11 Groaping with our hands in the sand. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 121 A covered way that..is..so dark, that one must groap along as they go in it. 1700 S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 96 [They] searched our Boat very narrowly, and then with their Hooks groped all round the outside. 1785 Burns Halloween iv, They steek their een, an graip an' wale, For muckle anes and straight anes. 1792 J. Barlow Conspir. Kings 82 Dim, like the day-struck owl, ye grope in light. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xv, Hats and bonnets having been groped for under the table. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 821 He groped as blind, and seem'd Always about to fall. |
b. Applied to the catching of fish, esp. trout, by feeling for them in the water. Const. for; also in indirect pass.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 91 Groping for Trowts, in a peculiar River. 1678 Bunyan Pilgr. Apol., Fish must be grop't for, and be tickled too. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables cxxxi. 121 A Boy was Groping for Eles, and layd his hand upon a Snake. 1834 Landor Exam. Shaks. Wks. 1846 II. 272 Every carp from pool, every bream from brook, will be groped for. |
c. fig. To behave as if blind or in the dark; to search blindly, tentatively, or uncertainly (for, after); † to make a blind guess at.
| c 1325 Know thyself 99 in E.E.P. (1862) 132 Þi Concience schal þe saue and deme, Wheþer þat þou be ille or good, Grope aboute and take good ȝeme. c 1340 Cursor M. 13590 (Trin.) Whenne þei had stryuen as I telle þei groped & coude no cause fynde. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 126 Ay we han good hope It for to doon, and after it we grope. 1558 Knox First Blast (Arb.) 44 Greate wonder it is, that in so greate light of Goddes truthe, men list to grope and wander in darknes. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet B ij b, It was well groapt at. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. Ep. Rdr., If they will but grope after Him, in whom we all liue, mooue, and haue our being. 1682 Dryden Relig. Laici 23 As blindly groped they for a future state. 1718 Prior Solomon i. 723 O wretched impotence of human mind! We..darkling grope, not knowing we are blind. 1779 Johnson 16 Apr. in Boswell, Mallet, I believe, never wrote a single line of his projected life of the Duke of Marlborough. He groped for materials, and thought of it. 1845 Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. II. 600/1 The scientific principle which Parmenides had been groping after. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lv, I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 665 A minute knowledge which certainly cannot be got by the dull process of groping in the Chronicles. 1889 Jessopp Coming of Friars vii. 325 The prophets had been groping after a formula which might be their strength. |
d. to grope one's way: to find one's way by feeling about or groping; to feel one's way; to proceed in a tentative manner. lit. and fig.
| 1580 Baret Alv. G 567 To proue, trie, or feele the way as he goeth: to grope the way. 1714 Gay Trivia iii. 224 Hence wert thou doom'd in endless Night to stray Through Theban Streets, and cheerless groap thy Way. c 1789 Gibbon Autobiographies (1896) 227, I groped my way to the chappel and the communion-table by the dim light of my catechism. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 93, I groped my way out of the room. 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxviii, We..groped our way down stairs in the pitch dark. 1862 Sir B. Brodie Psychol. Inq. II. i. 7 With our limited capacities, we are compelled..to grope our way as well as we can. |
† 3. trans. To touch with the hands; to examine by the touch; to handle, feel; to probe (a wound). Also, to take hold of, grasp, seize. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 134 Se cuma his cneow grapode mid his halwendum handum. a 1225 Ancr. R. 378 Auh is for sum þet schal reden þis inouh reaðe, þet gropieð hire to softe noðeleas. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1544 Ysaac wende it were esau, for he grapte him and fond him ru. a 1300 Cursor M. 18694 Thomas..he lete To put his hand in at his side, Al for to grape his wond wide. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Magdalena 459 Þe child cane..grape þe modyr pape, for fud to tak. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 449 He by⁓clipped þe deed body and gropeþ the woundes. c 1440 York Myst. xlii. 57 Se þat I haue flessh and bone, Gropes me nowe. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 850 It [an animal] walde of him be graped and fedde. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. lxviii, Oft I wald my hand behald to se Gif it alterit, and oft my visage graip. 1575 Gamm. Gurton iii. iv, Ichould twenty pound your neele is in her throte! Grope her, ich say! Me thinkes ich feele it. 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. ii. iv. 10 Grope the pulse of euerie mangie wrest. 1641 J. Shute Sarah & Hagar (1649) 88 Those that grasp and grope all that they can pretend any right to..shall finde God blowe upon it, and make it uncomfortable. 1647 J. Hall Poems ii. 98 They grope but Aire. 1730 Swift Ladies Dressing-r. 93 But Strephon, cautious, never meant The Bottom of the Pan to grope. 1738 Johnson London 151 Slaves that..Can Balbo's eloquence applaud, and swear He gropes his breeches with a monarch's air. |
† b. in indecent sense. Obs.
| 13.. Sir Beues 3105 (MS. A.) Þow gropedest þe wif aniȝt to lowe. a 1380 St. Bernard 133 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 43 Heo lay stille a luytel whil, Þen heo groped him atte laste. 1664 Wood Life 26 Jan., Kissed her and groped her and felt her brests. |
c. To handle (poultry) in order to find whether they have eggs.
| 1590 Nashe Almond for Parrat 5 Groaping his owne hennes, like a Cotquean. 1611 Cotgr., Apprendre aux poissons à nager, to teach fishes to swimme; (an idle, vaine, or needlesse labour) we say, to teach his grandame to grope ducks. |
† d. To probe with an instrument. Obs. rare—1.
| 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. xcv. 383 Then grope the hoofe with a paire of pinsons round about vntill you haue found the place grieued. |
e. To search, rummage. Obs. exc. Sc.
| 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 2258 Nay, I know well inough ye are bothe well handyd To grope a gardeuyaunce, though it be well bandyd. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iii. v, All men in black, spite of their Tickets of Entry, are clutched by the collar, and groped. |
† f. hyperbolically. Obs.
| a 1240 Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 251 Se þicke is þrinne þe þosternesse þat me hire mei grapin. a 1300 Cursor M. 23242 Of helle..þe sext paine..es suilk mercknes men mai it grape. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 6566 Swa mykel myrknes, Þat it may be graped, swa thik it es. |
† 4. fig. a. To apprehend as something palpable. Often with clause as obj. Obs.
| 13.. K. Alis. 6627 Monye buth theo merveilles of Ethiope, That Alisaundre hath y-grope. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 205 This king hath spoke with the pope And tolde all that he couthe grope, What greveth in his conscience. c 1470 Harding Chron. ccxlii. App. ix, Your nauy maye receaue vytayle in that countre, A longest the water of Foorth, as I can grope. 1584 Fenner Def. Ministers (1587) 70 Which meaning.., if he could not grope it by the purpose wee had in answering the first obiection: yet it was maruelous hee espyed it not by our words. a 1603 T. Cartwright Confut. Rhem. N.T. (1618) 561 This doctrin..is so evident that it is marvell that any can be so sencelesse as not to grope it. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl ii. i, Thou'rt familiarly acquainted there, I grope that. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. viii. 329 So notorious is the originall corruption of mankinde, that sense gropes it, and nature feeles it. 1642 Rogers Naaman 350 When you might have felt and groped the Lord in his manifest providence. |
† b. To take hold of (a person) mentally. Obs.
| 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. v. Wks. 1856 I. 60 As I am a true knight, I feele honourable eloquence begin to grope mee alreadie. |
† c. To make examination or trial of; to examine, sound, probe (a person, the conscience, etc.); to investigate (a matter). Obs.
| a 1225 [see groping vbl. n. (2nd quot.)]. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 646 Who so koulde in oothur thyng hym grope Thanne hadde he spent al his Philosophie. ― Sompn. T. 109 Thise curatz been ful necligent and slowe To grope tendrely a conscience. c 1440 York Myst. xxiii. 104, I rede we..grope þam how þis game is begonne. c 1450 Myrc 912 When he seyþ I con no more Freyne hym þus and grope hys sore [i.e. sin]. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 502 Gif I haue failȝeit, bald[l]y repruif my ryme, Bot first, I pray ȝou, grape the mater clene. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 617 Sume fayne themselfe..medelynge spyes, by craft to grope thy mynde. 1542–5 Brinklow Lament. 23 b, Prestes, as longe as they shall grope our partyculare synnes. 1557 N. T. (Genev.) Acts xxiv. Contents, Felix gropeth him, thinking to haue a bribe. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. v. 296 Fenela, quhome nature had formet to deceiue, grapet the kingis mynd. a 1651 Calderwood Hist. Kirk (1843) II. 313 Davie gropped their mindes, how they were affected to the banished lords. |
5. to grope out: to find by feeling about. Chiefly fig. To find by tentative effort; to search out.
| 1590 R. Hitchcock Quintess. Wit 17 So muche lesse we doo gather and groape out the trueth. 1647 Trapp Comm. 1 Cor. i. 21 Not the Jews by their deep Doctours, nor the Gentiles by their wits and wizards..could grope out God. 1701 Cibber Love makes Man iv. ii, At last I have grop'd out a Window, that will let me into the Secret. 1727 A. Hamilton New. Acc. E. Ind. I. p. xxii, Our Duty..is..set before us in the brightest Light, while theirs is to be groped out by the dark Glimmerings of very fallible Reason. c 1820 Houlston's Juvenile Tracts No. 11 Hold Up your Head 12 He will grope it out, and brood over it. 1846 J. W. Croker in C. Papers 4 Feb. (1884), You..enable me to grope out somewhat of the present posture of affairs. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 150, I..began to hack frozenly at a log which I groped out. |
▪ IV. grope
obs. f. groop n.; var. groop v.