apprehend

Verb

apprehend (third-person singular simple present apprehends, present participle apprehending, simple past and past participle apprehended)

1. (transitive) 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.1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Signification of Spirit, Angel, and Inspiration in the Books of Holy Scripture”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and...
   • [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.1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 70
2. (transitive) 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: […]1872, Robert Browning, Fifine at the Fair, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza 71, page 85
3. (transitive) 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...1569, [Reginald] Pole, chapter IIII, in [Thomas Copley?], transl., A Treatie of Iustification. […], Leuven: […] Ioannem Foulerum, →OCLC, 2nd book (Declaring the Second Danger), folio 41
   • This ſuſpicion of Earl Reimund, though at firſt but a buzze, ſoon got a ſting in the Kings head, and he violently apprehended it.1639, Thomas Fuller, “The Fatall Jealousies betwixt the King and Reimund Earl of Tripoli”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the...

   Synonyms:

   catch, get

4. (transitive) 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.c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
   • 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; […]1639, Thomas Fuller, “The Corasines Cruelly Sack the City of Jerusalem and Kill the Christians therein”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the...

   Synonyms:

   believe, gather, reckon

5. (transitive) 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.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609...
   • 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.c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
6. (also, archaic, figuratively, obsolete, transitive) 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...1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner]; Edward Topsell, “Of the Dogge”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 156
   • 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...1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, “Of Christian Sobriety”, in The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Francis Ashe […], →OCLC, section VI (Of Contentedness in All Estates and...

   Synonyms:

   catch

7. (transitive) 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.1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of Power Ecclesiasticall”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC...

   Synonyms:

   capture, detain

8. (obsolete, transitive) 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.1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC
   • Pol[itic Would-Be]. Stone dead! / Per[egrine]. Dead. Lord! how deeply, ſir, you apprehend it? / He was no kinſman to you?1605 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Volpone, or The Foxe. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616...
9. (obsolete, transitive) 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.1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Pacience Deserued in Repulse, or Hynderaunce of Promocion”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co...
   • 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; […]a. 1681 (date written), Samuel Butler, “Satyr”, in R[obert] Thyer, editor, The Genuine Remains in Verse and Prose of Mr. Samuel Butler, […], volume I, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […]...
10. (also, figuratively, obsolete, transitive) 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Philippians 3:12, column 2
    • 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.1810, John Gillies, “the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to Philemon”, in The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; with Devotional Reflections, […], new edition, volume II, London: […]...
11. (intransitive, transitive) 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.1614 November 10 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Beniamin Iohnson [i.e., Ben Jonson], Bartholmew Fayre: A Comedie, […], London: […] I[ohn] B[eale] for Robert Allot, […], published 1631...
    • And ſince thou relieſt more on thy own precaution than upon my honour; be it unto thee as thou apprehendeſt, fair one!1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXXI. Mr. Hickman, to Miss Clarisa Harlowe. [Sent to Wilson’s by a Particular Hand.]”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume III, London: […]...
12. (intransitive, transitive) To understand.
    • Coſin you apprehend paſſing ſhrewdly.1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II...
    • I confess I cannot apprehend where lies the trifling in all this; […]1712 November 20 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “SUNDAY, November 10, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 532; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […]...
13. (intransitive, transitive) 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.c. 1700, Jean de La Bruyère, “No. CLXXXVI”, in Nicholas Rowe, transl., edited by [John Timbs], Laconics; or, The Best Words of the Best Authors. […], volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Mathew] Carey...
    • I sometimes apprehend that our institutions may perish before we shall have discovered the most precious of the possibilities which they involve.1863, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Recollections of a Gifted Woman”, in Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 140