| 释义 |
apprehend, v.|æprɪˈhɛnd|
[a. Fr. appréhende-r (15th c. in Godef.), ad. L. app-, adprehend-ĕre to lay hold of, seize, f. ad to + prehend-ĕre to seize. In the contracted form apprend-ĕre, the word survived in the Romance langs. in the fig. sense ‘lay hold with the mind, comprehend, learn,’ whence also later ‘teach, inform’: cf. Fr. apprendre, and Eng. apprise. Subsequently, the full apprehend-ĕre was taken into Fr. and Eng. in its orig. form and sense. apprend is occas. in 16–17th c.]
I. Physical.
†1. To lay hold upon, seize, with hands, teeth, etc. Also said of fire, and fig. of trembling, fear, etc. Obs. or arch.
1572J. Bossewell Armorie iii. 5 A great quakyng and tremblyng dyd apprehende hys hande. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 124 His dogs..apprehending the garments of passengers. 1613Life William I in Harl. Misc. (1793) 28 A fire began..which apprehending certain shops and warehouses, etc. c1643Maximes Unf. 8 Fury and affrightment apprehend the desperate. 1645Rutherford Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845) 63 A lame hand that cannot apprehend. 1843E. Jones Sensat. & Event 122 While those two lips his brow did apprehend.
†b. transf. To seize upon, take down, in writing. fig. To seize upon (points of a subject). Obs.
1611Coryat Crudities 480, I apprehended it [an epitaph] with my pen while the Preacher was in his pulpit. 1615T. Adams Spir. Navig. 24, I will only apprehend so much as may serve to exemplify this dangerous world.
2. To seize (a person) in name of law, to arrest.
1548Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John vii. 1 (R.) To fynde sum occasion..to attache and apprehende him. 1642Rogers Naaman 44 Paul..going like a Pursivant..to Damascus, to apprehend the Saints there. 1768Blackstone Comm. IV. 287 A justice of the peace cannot issue a warrant to apprehend a felon upon bare suspicion. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 328 Troops had been sent to apprehend him.
†3. To seize upon for one's own, take possession of. Also fig. Obs.
1513Douglas æneis xi. vii. 70 Ellis quhare..to wend, Thayre dwelling place for ay to apprehend. 1611Bible Phil. iii. 12 If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Iesus. 1652Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 21 That Vacancies are his who apprehend's them first by occupation.
†4. To seize or embrace (an offer or opportunity).
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. 750 If we apprehend not that great grace and mercy of the Father offered to all. a1619Donne Biathan. (1644) 126 If he apprehend not an opportunity to escape. 1633Bp. Hall Hard Texts 56 His faith, whereby he did firmely apprehend the..aid of his eternal Father.
II. Mental.
†5. gen. To learn, gain practical acquaintance with. Also absol. (The earliest use in Eng.; cf. Fr. apprendre.) Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. ii. ii. (1495) 28 He holdeth in mynde..without foryetynge, all that he apprehendyth. 1531Elyot Governour (1834) 215 Thereby they provoke many men to apprehend virtue. a1680Butler Rem. (1759) I. 204 Children..Improve their nat'ral Talents without Care, And apprehend, before they are aware.
6. To become or be conscious by the senses of (any external impression).
1635Austin Medit. 60 When this Light shone in darkenesse, and our darkenesse, though it apprehended, yet it comprehended it not. 1651Hobbes Leviath. iii. xxxiv. 212 That caused Agar supernaturally to apprehend a voice from heaven. 1855Bain Sens. & Int. iii. i. §37 If I see..two candle flames, I apprehend them as different objects.
†7. To feel emotionally, be sensible of, feel the force of. Obs.
1592Nashe P. Penilesse 29 b, The..soules of them that haue no power to apprehend such felicitie. 1605B. Jonson Volpone ii. i, Dead. Lord! how deeply, sir, you apprehend it. 1670Walton Lives, That [kindness] was so gratefully apprehended by M. Hooker.
8. To lay hold of with the intellect:
a. to perceive the existence of, recognize, see.
1577T. Vautrollier Luther's Ep. Gal. 5 Who so doth not understand or apprehend this righteousness in afflictions and terrors of conscience. 1609C. Butler's Fem. Mon. Ad Auth. 16 There is not half that worth in Mee Which I have apprehended in a Bee. 1743J. Morris Serm. vii. 184 We shall apprehend reason to conclude, that..they were not so very young. 1872Browning Fifine lxxi. 7 Each man..avails him of what worth He apprehends in you.
b. to catch the meaning or idea of; to understand.
1631Heywood Lond. Jus Hon. 279 As soone known as showne, and apprehended as read. 1755B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sc. i. xiii. 87 This is all so plain, that I can't but apprehend it. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 463 The nature of the long contest between the Stuarts and their parliaments, was indeed very imperfectly apprehended by foreign statesmen. 1871C. Davies Metric Syst. ii. 24 To apprehend distinctly the signification of a number, two things are necessary.
c. absol. or with subord. clause.
1599Shakes. Much Ado ii. i. 84 Cousin, you apprehend passing shrewdly. 1660Stanley Hist. Philos. 46/1 Periander..immediately apprehended that he advised him to put the most eminent in the City to death. 1712Steele Spect. No. 532 ⁋2, I cannot apprehend where lyes the trifling in all this. 1785Reid Intell. Powers i. i, No one can explain by a Logical Definition what it is to think, to apprehend.
9. To understand (a thing to be so and so); to conceive, consider, view, take (it) as.
1639Fuller Holy War iv. ix. (1840) 193 They apprehended it a great courtesy done unto them. 1736Wesley Wks. 1830 I. 100, I apprehended myself to be near death. 1858Gladstone Homer III. 393 The eternal laws, such as the heroic age apprehended them.
b. absol. or with subord. clause.
1614B. Jonson Barth. Fair i. iv. 8 If hee apprehend you flout him once, he will flie at you. 1775J. Lyon in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) I. 101, I apprehend that secrecy is as necessary now as ever it was. 1839Hallam Hist. Lit. iv. vi. §17 In general, I apprehend, the later French critics have given the preference to Racine.
10. To anticipate, look forward to, expect (mostly things adverse).
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. ii. 149 A man that apprehends death no more dreadfully, but as a drunken sleepe. 1749Fielding Tom Jones (1836) I. iii. iii. 100 A triumphant question, to which he had apprehended no answer. 1879Tourgee Fool's Errand ii. 11 Love had taught her with unerring accuracy to apprehend the evil which impended.
11. To anticipate with fear or dread; to be fearful concerning; to fear.
a. with obj.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. ii. 80 Oh let my Lady apprehend no feare. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §54 Which makes me much apprehend the ends of those honest Worthies. 1702Eng. Theophr. 53 He apprehends every breath of air as much as if it were a Hurricane. 1832H. Martineau Hill & Valley xiii. 125 No one..could think..that any further violence was to be apprehended.
b. with subord. clause. To be apprehensive, to fear.
1740–61Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) III. 210, I don't apprehend that even the Bath could hurt her. 1868Hawthorne Our Old Home (1879) 186, I sometimes apprehend that our institutions may perish. |