apprehend
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
law-enforcement
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”)).
Inflected forms:
form: apprehends
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: apprehending
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: apprehended
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: apprehended
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: To be or become aware of (something); to perceive.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: […] 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.
From thy composure on the occasion it was evident, that thou expectedst to reap the fruit of thine iniquity in peace; and that, when thou repliedst, "All is well," thou apprehendedst no evil. But didst thou forget that God saw thee?
gloss: To acknowledge the existence of (something); to recognize.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [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: […]
gloss: To take hold of (something) with understanding; to conceive (something) in the mind; to become cognizant of; to understand.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
We ſee in all things how deſuetude do's contract and narrow our faculties, ſo that we may apprehend only thoſe things wherein we are converſant.
There are three things in faith that directly tend to make a man depart from iniquity. (1.) It apprehendeth the truth of the being, and greatness of God, and so it aweth the spirit of a man. (2.) It apprehendeth the love of this God in Christ, and so it conquereth and overcometh the spirit of a man. (3.) It apprehendeth the sweetness and blessedness of the nature of the godhead, and thence persuadeth the soul to desire here communion with him, that it may be holy, and the enjoyment of him when this world is ended, that it may be happy in and by him for ever.
[Thomas] Jefferson apprehended the injustice of slavery; but one is inclined to ask how deeply he felt it.
gloss: To have a conception of (something); to consider, to regard.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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; […]
[A]t this day, the ignorant People, where Images are worſhipped, doe really beleeve there is a Divine Power in the Images; and are told by their Paſtors, that ſome of them have ſpoken; and have bled; and that miracles have been done by them; which they apprehended as done by the Saint, which they think either is the Image it ſelf, or in it.
[…] Erinūs, who, in so many particular passages of the poems, makes miniature appearances in order to vindicate the eternal laws, such as the heroic age apprehended them, likewise presides in full development over the general action of each of these extraordinary poems.
gloss: To anticipate (something, usually unpleasant); especially, to anticipate (something) with anxiety, dread, or fear; to dread, to fear.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
There is no ſalvation to thoſe that beleeve not in Chriſt, that is ſay ſome, ſince his Nativity, and as Divinity affirmeth, before alſo; which makes me much apprehend the ends of thoſe honeſt Worthies and Philoſophers which died before his incarnation.
[T]he Parſon had concluded his Speech with a triumphant Queſtion, to which he had apprehended no Anſwer; viz. Can any Honour exiſt independent on Religion?
The king determined to try once more the experiment of a dissolution [of parliament]. A new parliament was summoned to meet at Oxford, in March, 1681. […] The university was devoted to the crown; and the gentry of the neighbourhood were generally Tories. Here, therefore, the opposition had more reason than the king to apprehend violence.
gloss: To seize or take (something); to take hold of.
pos: verb
tags: also
archaic
figuratively
obsolete
transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To seize or take (a person) by legal process; to arrest.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
[A] juſtice of the peace cannot iſſue a warrant to apprehend a felon upon bare ſuſpicion; no, not even till an indictment be actually found: and the contrary practice is by others held to be grounded rather upon connivance, than the expreſs rule of law; though now by long cuſtom eſtabliſhed.
He soon returned to the Lowlands, and stayed there till he learned that a considerable body of troops had been sent to apprehend him.
Sunny White was apprehended in Flathead County Friday on a warrant out of Lake County charging her with vehicular homicide while under the influence in the March 2023 death of 22-year-old Mika Westwolf.
gloss: To feel (something) emotionally.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: [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?
But the juſtifying of this Doctrine did not prove of ſo bad conſequence, as the kindneſs of Mrs. Churchmans curing him of his late Diſtemper and Cold; for that was ſo gratefully apprehended by Mr. Hooker, that he thought himſelf bound in conſcience to believe all that ſhe ſaid; […]
gloss: To learn (something).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: 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; […]
gloss: To take possession of (something); to seize.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
obsolete
transitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To be of opinion, believe, or think; to suppose.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: 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!
gloss: To understand.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: Coſin you apprehend paſſing ſhrewdly.
I confess I cannot apprehend where lies the trifling in all this; […]
gloss: To be apprehensive; to fear.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
transitive
examples: 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.
Related words: apprehensibility
apprehensible
apprehensibly
apprehension
apprehensive
apprehensively
apprise
Derived words: apprehendable
apprehended
apprehendee
apprehender
apprehending
apprehendingly
misapprehend
reapprehend
unapprehending
Translations: