Word.ws English Dictionary

graps

/ɡɹæps/

graps is the alternative form of grasp.

Meaning of grasp

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.
    • How few! yet how they creep / Through my fingers to the deep, / While I weep—while I weep! / O God! can I not grasp / Them with a tighter clasp?1849 March 31, Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: […], volumes II (Poems and Miscellanies), New York, N.Y.: J. S. Redfield, […], published 1850...
    Synonyms:
    clasp
  2. To understand.
    • I have never been able to grasp the concept of infinity.
    Synonyms:
    comprehend, fathom
  3. To take advantage of something, to seize, to jump at a chance.

See all 6 meanings of grasp

Forms of graps

third-person singular presentgrapses
present participlegrapsing
past participlegrapsed
pastgrapsed

Origin of graps

From Middle English grapsen, re-unmetathesised version of graspen (“to grasp”), from Old English *grǣpsian. Compare to its equally unmetathesised cognates German Low German grapsen (“to grab; grasp”), German grapsen, Saterland Frisian Grapse (“double handful”).

Questions about graps

What is graps the alternative form of?
Graps is the alternative form of grasp.
How do you pronounce graps?
Graps is pronounced /ɡɹæps/.

Words near graps in the dictionary

  1. grappling iron
  2. grappling irons
  3. grappling tongs
  4. grappling with
  5. grapplings
  6. graps
  7. grapsid
  8. grapsids
  9. grapsoid
  10. grapsoids
  11. graptolite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: graps (page history and authors); grasp (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “graps.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/graps. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.