| 释义 |
▪ 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. c1000Guthlac 407 Wæron hy reowe to ræsanne ᵹifrum grapum. a1225Leg. Kath. 855 Esculapies creftes, & Galienes grapes [L. sagacissimas latentium rerum inventiones].
2. The action or an act of groping. lit. and fig.
1500–20Dunbar Poems liv. 7 Scho is..lyk a gangarall unto graip. 1894Kingdom (Minneapolis) 20 Apr., The grope of a stricken soul. 1899Speaker 2 Sept. 237/1 A step and a grope would tell me.
▪ II. † grope, n.2 Obs.
A kind of nail.
[1411in Rogers Agric. & Pr. (1882) III. 546/3, 50 grope & 1 c clout nails.] 1425in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 253 In clavis carectat., gropys, et aliis ferramentis..xii sol. iv den. 1720Strype 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. c825Vesp. Ps. cxiii. 15 [cxv. 7] Honda habbað & ne grapiað. a1000Riddles xlvi. 3 Ic..on þæt banlease bryd grapode hyᵹewlonc hondum. c1205Lay. 30269 He grapede an his nebbe he wende þat bledde. c1325Old Age in E.E.P. (1862) 149 Ihc ne mai no more grope vnder gore. 1382Wyclif Wisd. xv. 15 The maumetis of naciouns..to the whiche nouther siȝte of eȝen is to seen..ne fingris of hondis to gropen. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 683 Look what ther is, put in thyn hand and grope. c1440Hylton Scala Perf. (W. de W. 1494) i. lv, Now may þou grope [L. palpare] that this ymage is not nought. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. v. xliv. in Ashm. (1652) 159 Fyrst examyn, grope and taste. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. x. (Percy Soc.) 37 They grope over where is no felynge. 1568Gd. 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.
971Blickl. Hom. 151 Hie grapodan mid heora handum on þa eorþan, & nystan hwyder hie eodan. c1000ælfric Deut. xxviii. 29 Þæt þu grapie on midne dæᵹ, swa se blinda deð on þistrum. c1386Chaucer Reeve's T. 302 She gropeth alwey forther with hir hond And foond the bed. c1430–40Lydg. Bochas iii. vi. 16 With her handes for to fele his hede, And to grope after both his eares twayne. c1440York Myst. xlvi. 238 Go we groppe wher we graued hir, If we fynde ouȝte þat faire one in fere nowe. 1535Coverdale Ruth iii. 8 Now whan it was midnight, the man was afrayed, and groped aboute. 1565–73Durham Depos. (Surtees) 211 Robson groped about his girdle for his key. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 11 Groaping with our hands in the sand. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 121 A covered way that..is..so dark, that one must groap along as they go in it. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 96 [They] searched our Boat very narrowly, and then with their Hooks groped all round the outside. 1785Burns Halloween iv, They steek their een, an graip an' wale, For muckle anes and straight anes. 1792J. Barlow Conspir. Kings 82 Dim, like the day-struck owl, ye grope in light. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xv, Hats and bonnets having been groped for under the table. 1864Tennyson 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.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. i. ii. 91 Groping for Trowts, in a peculiar River. 1678Bunyan Pilgr. Apol., Fish must be grop't for, and be tickled too. 1692R. L'Estrange Fables cxxxi. 121 A Boy was Groping for Eles, and layd his hand upon a Snake. 1834Landor 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.
c1325Know 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. c1340Cursor M. 13590 (Trin.) Whenne þei had stryuen as I telle þei groped & coude no cause fynde. c1386Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 126 Ay we han good hope It for to doon, and after it we grope. 1558Knox First Blast (Arb.) 44 Greate wonder it is, that in so greate light of Goddes truthe, men list to grope and wander in darknes. 1589Pappe w. Hatchet B ij b, It was well groapt at. 1594T. 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. 1682Dryden Relig. Laici 23 As blindly groped they for a future state. 1718Prior Solomon i. 723 O wretched impotence of human mind! We..darkling grope, not knowing we are blind. 1779Johnson 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. 1845Maurice Mor. & Met. Philos. in Encycl. Metrop. II. 600/1 The scientific principle which Parmenides had been groping after. 1850Tennyson In Mem. lv, I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 665 A minute knowledge which certainly cannot be got by the dull process of groping in the Chronicles. 1889Jessopp 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.
1580Baret Alv. G 567 To proue, trie, or feele the way as he goeth: to grope the way. 1714Gay Trivia iii. 224 Hence wert thou doom'd in endless Night to stray Through Theban Streets, and cheerless groap thy Way. c1789Gibbon Autobiographies (1896) 227, I groped my way to the chappel and the communion-table by the dim light of my catechism. 1824W. Irving T. Trav. I. 93, I groped my way out of the room. 1838Dickens O. Twist xxviii, We..groped our way down stairs in the pitch dark. 1862Sir 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.
c1000ælfric Hom. II. 134 Se cuma his cneow grapode mid his halwendum handum. a1225Ancr. R. 378 Auh is for sum þet schal reden þis inouh reaðe, þet gropieð hire to softe noðeleas. c1250Gen. & Ex. 1544 Ysaac wende it were esau, for he grapte him and fond him ru. a1300Cursor M. 18694 Thomas..he lete To put his hand in at his side, Al for to grape his wond wide. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Magdalena 459 Þe child cane..grape þe modyr pape, for fud to tak. 1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 449 He by⁓clipped þe deed body and gropeþ the woundes. c1440York Myst. xlii. 57 Se þat I haue flessh and bone, Gropes me nowe. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 850 It [an animal] walde of him be graped and fedde. 1501Douglas Pal. Hon. i. lxviii, Oft I wald my hand behald to se Gif it alterit, and oft my visage graip. 1575Gamm. Gurton iii. iv, Ichould twenty pound your neele is in her throte! Grope her, ich say! Me thinkes ich feele it. 1597–8Bp. Hall Sat. ii. iv. 10 Grope the pulse of euerie mangie wrest. 1641J. 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. 1647J. Hall Poems ii. 98 They grope but Aire. 1730Swift Ladies Dressing-r. 93 But Strephon, cautious, never meant The Bottom of the Pan to grope. 1738Johnson 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. a1380St. Bernard 133 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1878) 43 Heo lay stille a luytel whil, Þen heo groped him atte laste. 1664Wood Life 26 Jan., Kissed her and groped her and felt her brests.
c. To handle (poultry) in order to find whether they have eggs.
1590Nashe Almond for Parrat 5 Groaping his owne hennes, like a Cotquean. 1611Cotgr., 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.
1610Markham 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.
1526Skelton Magnyf. 2258 Nay, I know well inough ye are bothe well handyd To grope a gardeuyaunce, though it be well bandyd. 1837Carlyle 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.
a1240Sawles Warde in Cott. Hom. 251 Se þicke is þrinne þe þosternesse þat me hire mei grapin. a1300Cursor M. 23242 Of helle..þe sext paine..es suilk mercknes men mai it grape. 1340Hampole 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. 1390Gower Conf. I. 205 This king hath spoke with the pope And tolde all that he couthe grope, What greveth in his conscience. c1470Harding Chron. ccxlii. App. ix, Your nauy maye receaue vytayle in that countre, A longest the water of Foorth, as I can grope. 1584Fenner 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. a1603T. 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. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl ii. i, Thou'rt familiarly acquainted there, I grope that. 1617Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. viii. 329 So notorious is the originall corruption of mankinde, that sense gropes it, and nature feeles it. 1642Rogers Naaman 350 When you might have felt and groped the Lord in his manifest providence.
†b. To take hold of (a person) mentally. Obs.
1602Marston 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.
a1225[see groping vbl. n. (2nd quot.)]. c1386Chaucer 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. c1440York Myst. xxiii. 104, I rede we..grope þam how þis game is begonne. c1450Myrc 912 When he seyþ I con no more Freyne hym þus and grope hys sore [i.e. sin]. 1513Douglas æneis i. Prol. 502 Gif I haue failȝeit, bald[l]y repruif my ryme, Bot first, I pray ȝou, grape the mater clene. 1523Skelton Garl. Laurel 617 Sume fayne themselfe..medelynge spyes, by craft to grope thy mynde. 1542–5Brinklow Lament. 23 b, Prestes, as longe as they shall grope our partyculare synnes. 1557N. T. (Genev.) Acts xxiv. Contents, Felix gropeth him, thinking to haue a bribe. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. v. 296 Fenela, quhome nature had formet to deceiue, grapet the kingis mynd. a1651Calderwood 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.
1590R. Hitchcock Quintess. Wit 17 So muche lesse we doo gather and groape out the trueth. 1647Trapp Comm. 1 Cor. i. 21 Not the Jews by their deep Doctours, nor the Gentiles by their wits and wizards..could grope out God. 1701Cibber Love makes Man iv. ii, At last I have grop'd out a Window, that will let me into the Secret. 1727A. 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. c1820Houlston's Juvenile Tracts No. 11 Hold Up your Head 12 He will grope it out, and brood over it. 1846J. W. Croker in C. Papers 4 Feb. (1884), You..enable me to grope out somewhat of the present posture of affairs. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 150, I..began to hack frozenly at a log which I groped out.
▪ IV. grope
obs. f. groop n.; var. groop v. |