apprehend

verb

Etymology: From Late Middle English apprehenden (“to grasp, take hold of; to comprehend; to learn”), from Old French apprehender (modern French appréhender (“to apprehend; to catch; to dread”)), from Latin apprehendere, adprehendere, the present active infinitive of apprehendō, adprehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, take; to apprehend, arrest; to comprehend, understand; to embrace, include; to take possession of, obtain, secure”), from ap-, ad- (prefix meaning ‘to’) + prehendō (“to grab, grasp, seize, snatch, take; to accost; to catch in the act, take by surprise; (figuratively, rare) of the mind: to apprehend, comprehend, grasp”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to hold, seize, take; to find”)).

1. To be or become aware of (something); to perceive.

   “[…] Angel ſignifieth there, nothing but God himſelf, that cauſed Agar ſupernaturally to apprehend a voice from heaven; or rather, nothing elſe but a Voice ſupernaturall, teſtifying Gods ſpeciall preſence there.”

   “[A]s to the barrel [of gunpowder] that had been wet, I did not apprehend any Danger from that; ſo I plac'd it in my new Cave, which in my Fancy I call'd my Kitchin, and the reſt I hid up and down in Holes among the Rocks, ſo that no wet might come to it, marking very carefully where I laid it.”

2. To acknowledge the existence of (something); to recognize.

   “[E]ach man for his own sake / Accepts you as his guide, avails him of what worth / He apprehends in you to sublimate his earth / With fire: […]”

3. To take hold of (something) with understanding; to conceive (something) in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand.

   “If to apprehend Chriſte be vnderſtanded, to dvvell in Chriſte, and to haue him dvvell in vs, it is not true that Chriſte is apprehended in that ſorte, by onely faith vvithout charitie. […] He apprehendeth Chriſte truely, that cleaueth vnto Chriſt, and the glue vvhereby the ſovvle is fastned vnto Chriſte, ſaith S. Auguſtine, is charitie: […]”

   “This ſuſpicion of Earl Reimund, though at firſt but a buzze, ſoon got a ſting in the Kings head, and he violently apprehended it.”

4. To have a conception of (something); to consider, to regard.

   “Tim[on]. That's a laſciuious apprehenſion. / Ape[mantus]. So, thou apprehend'ſt it, / Take it for thy labour.”

   “In ſtead therefore of giving them a houſe, he ſent them to a work-houſe; yet ſo, that they apprehended it a great courteſie done unto them: For he beſtowed on them all the lands which the Chriſtians held in Paleſtine; […]”

5. To anticipate (something, usually unpleasant); especially, to anticipate (something) with anxiety, dread, or fear; to dread, to fear.

   “O let my Lady apprehend no feare, / In all Cupids pageant there is preſented no monſter.”

   “Duke. Hath he borne himſelfe penitently in priſon? How ſeemes he to be touch'd? / Pro[vost]. A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken ſleepe, careleſſe, wreakleſſe, and feareleſſe of what's paſt, preſent, or to come: inſenſible of mortality, and deſperately mortall.”

6. To seize or take (something); to take hold of.

   “Nicias a certaine hunter going abroad in the woods, chaunced to fall into a heape of burning coales, hauing no helpe about him but his dogs, there he periſhed, yet they ranne to the high waies and ceaſed not with barking and apprehending the garments of paſſengers, to ſhew vnto them ſome direfull euent: and at laſt one of the trauailers followed the dogs, and came to the place where they ſaw the man conſumed, and by that coniectured the whole ſtory.”

   “When any thing happens to our diſpleaſure, let us endeavour to take of its trouble by turning it into ſpiritual or artificial advantage, and handle it on that ſide, in which it may be uſeful to the deſignes of reaſon. For there is nothing but hath a double handle, or at leaſt we have two hands to apprehend it.”

7. To seize or take (a person) by legal process; to arrest.

   “Officers apprehended the suspect two streets away from the bank.”

   “[…] Paul before his converſion entred into their Synagogues at Damaſcus, to apprehend Chriſtians, men and women, and to carry them bound to Jeruſalem, by Commiſſion from the High Prieſt.”

8. To feel (something) emotionally.

   “[H]ow it worketh in the mindes and soules of them that haue no power to apprehend such felicitie, it is not for me to intimate, because it is preiudiciall to our monarchie.”

   “Pol[itic Would-Be]. Stone dead! / Per[egrine]. Dead. Lord! how deeply, ſir, you apprehend it? / He was no kinſman to you?”

9. To learn (something).

   “Undowghtedly in a prince or noble man may be nothinge more excellent, ye nothing more necessarye, than to aduance men after the estimation of their goodnes; and that for two speciall commodities that do come thereof. Fyrste, that thereby they prouoke many men to apprehende vertue.”

   “Though Children, without Study, Pains, or Thought, / Are Languages, and vulgar Notions taught, / Improve their nat'ral Talents without Care, / And apprehend, before they are aware; […]”

10. To take possession of (something); to seize.

    “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which alſo I am apprehended of Chriſt Jeſus.”

    “Thou [Jesus] followedst this poor slave [Onesimus] to Rome. Thou broughtest him under the ministry of thy servant Paul. Thou apprehendedst him by thy grace, and hadst greater joy in his conversion, than Paul had.”

11. To be of opinion, believe, or think; to suppose.

    “Sir, if you haue a minde to mocke him, mocke him ſoftly, and looke to'ther way: for if hee apprehend you flout him, once, he will flie at you preſently. A terrible teſtie old fellow, and his name is Waſpe too.”

    “And ſince thou relieſt more on thy own precaution than upon my honour; be it unto thee as thou apprehendeſt, fair one!”

12. To understand.

    “Coſin you apprehend paſſing ſhrewdly.”

    “I confess I cannot apprehend where lies the trifling in all this; […]”

13. To be apprehensive; to fear.

    “Death never happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives. It is worse to apprehend than to suffer.”

    “I sometimes apprehend that our institutions may perish before we shall have discovered the most precious of the possibilities which they involve.”