different between grasp vs thought

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

Alternative forms

• thowt (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English thought, itho?t, from Old English þ?ht, ?eþ?ht, from Proto-Germanic *þanhtaz, *gaþanht? (“thought”), from Proto-Indo-European *teng- (“to think”). Cognate with Scots thocht (“thought”), Saterland Frisian Toacht (“thought”), West Frisian dacht (“attention, regard, thought”), Dutch gedachte (“thought”), German Andacht (“reverence, devotion, prayer”), Icelandic þóttur (“thought”). Related to thank.

Pronunciation

• enPR: thôt
• (UK) IPA^(key): /???t/
• Rhymes: -??t
• (US) IPA^(key): /??t/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /??t/
• (Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): /??t/
• Homophone: thot (in accents with the cot-caught merger)

Noun

thought (countable and uncountable, plural thoughts)

1. (countable) Form created in the mind, rather than the forms perceived through the five senses; an instance of thinking.
2. (uncountable) The operation by which such forms arise or are manipulated; the process of thinking; the agency by which thinking is accomplished.
   • a. 1983', Paul Fix (attributed quote)

     The only reason some people get lost in thought is because it’s unfamiliar territory.

3. (uncountable) A way of thinking (associated with a group, nation or region).

4. (uncountable, now dialectal) Anxiety, distress.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

thought

1. simple past tense and past participle of think

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thoughte, thougt, thouhte, thoute
• thogt, thohte, thogh

Etymology

From Old English þ?ht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?o?xt/, /??u?xt/

Noun

thought (plural thoughtes)

1. product of mental activity

Descendants

• English: thought
• Scots: thocht
• Yola: thaugkt

References

• “thought, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.