different between grasp vs hug

English

Etymology

From Middle English graspen, grapsen, craspen (“to grope; feel around”), from Old English gr?psan (“to touch, feel”), from Proto-Germanic *graipis?n?. Cognate with German Low German grapsen (“to grab; grasp”), Saterland Frisian Grapse (“double handful”). Compare also Swedish krafsa (“to scatch; scabble”), Norwegian krafse (“to scramble”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /????sp/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??æsp/
• Rhymes: -æsp

Verb

grasp (third-person singular simple present grasps, present participle grasping, simple past and past participle grasped)

1. To grip; to take hold, particularly with the hand.
3. To understand.

   I have never been able to grasp the concept of infinity.

4. To take advantage of something, to seize, to jump at a chance.

Synonyms

• (grip): clasp, grip, hold tight; See also Thesaurus:grasp
• (understand): comprehend, fathom
• (take advantage): jump at the chance, jump on

Derived terms

• begrasp
• foregrasp
• grasp the nettle

Related terms

Translations

Noun

grasp (plural grasps)

1. (sometimes figuratively) Grip.

   • Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.
3. Understanding.
   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 13:

     There is for the mind but one grasp of happiness: from that uppermost pinnacle of wisdom, whence we see that this world is well designed.

4. That which is accessible; that which is within one's reach or ability.

Translations

Anagrams

• ARPGs, sprag

English

Etymology

From earlier hugge (“to embrace, clasp with the arms”) (1560), probably representing a conflation of huck (“to crouch, huddle down”) and Old Norse hugga (“to comfort, console”), from hugr (“mind, heart, thought”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz (“mind, thought, sense”), cognate with Icelandic hugga (“to comfort”), Old English hy?e (“thought, mind, heart, disposition, intention, courage, pride”) (whence high (Etymology 2)).

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?g, IPA^(key): /h??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

hug (plural hugs)

1. A close embrace, especially when charged with such an emotion as represented by: affection, joy, relief, lust, anger, agression, compassion, and the like, as opposed to being characterized by formality, equivocation or ambivalence (a half-embrace or "little hug").
2. A particular grip in wrestling.

Translations

Verb

hug (third-person singular simple present hugs, present participle hugging, simple past and past participle hugged)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To crouch; huddle as with cold.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Palsgrave to this entry?)

2. (intransitive) To cling closely together.
3. (transitive) To embrace by holding closely, especially in the arms.

4. (transitive) To stay close to (the shore etc.)
5. (transitive, figuratively) To hold fast; to cling to; to cherish.
   • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica

     We hug intellectual deformities, if they bear our names

Synonyms

• (crouch): hunker, squat, stoop
• (cling closely): cleave, stick; see also Thesaurus:adhere
• (embrace): accoll (obsolete), coll, embrace; see also Thesaurus:embrace
• (stay close to):
• (hold fast): treasure

Translations

Derived terms

• body-hugging
• figure-hugging
• hug oneself
• huggable
• huggle
• huggy

See also

• cuddle
• huggle
• kiss
• snuggle
• squeeze

Anagrams

• Ghu, ghu, ugh

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ho?/, [?h???]

Etymology 1

From Old Norse h?gg, verbal noun to h?ggva (“to hew”) (Danish hugge).

Noun

hug n (singular definite hugget, plural indefinite hug)

1. stroke
2. slash
3. cut

Inflection

References

• “hug,1” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hu?/, [?hu??]

Noun

hug (uninflected)

1. squat

References

• “hug,2” in Den Danske Ordbog

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the main entry.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ho?/, [?h???]

Verb

hug

1. imperative of hugge

Faroese

Noun

hug m

1. indefinite accusative singular of hugur

Manx

Preposition

hug

1. to

Inflection

Verb

hug

1. past tense of toyr

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• hau

Etymology

From Old Norse hugr (“thought”), from Proto-Germanic *hugiz. Cognates include Norwegian Bokmål hu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /h???/, /h??/ (examples of pronunciation)

Noun

hug m (definite singular hugen, indefinite plural hugar, definite plural hugane)

1. (chiefly uncountable) mind
2. (chiefly uncountable, collective) one's thoughts
3. (chiefly uncountable) wish, desire
   • 1971, Olav H. Hauge, "T'ao Ch'ien":

     Meir enn fyrr har han hug å draga seg attende til ein slik hageflekk.

     More than before, he has a desire to retreat to such a small garden.

4. (uncountable, folklore) an itch in the nose which comes when someone is thinking of one, or as a warning that someone is about to arrive

Derived terms

Related terms

Adjective

hug

1. (predicative) keen, eager

References

• “hug” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.