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tion of; to note with the mind; to observe; to discern; to distinguish; to understand; to comprehend; to ascertain. Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren. Gen. xxxvii. 14. Jesus saw that he answered discreetly. Mark xii. 34. Who 's so gross That seeth not this palpable device Shak.…

To grap with the mind; to comprehend fully and distinctly; as, to seize an idea.

A genus of plants comprehending the potato (S. tuberosum), the eggplant (S. melongena, and several hundred other species; nightshade.

conception, called a genus, or generic conception, from which it differs in containing or comprehending more attributes, and extending to fewer individuals. Thus, man is a species, under animal as a genus; and man, in its turn, may be regarded as a genus with respect to European, American, or the like, as species.…

The season of the year when plants begin to vegetate and grow; the vernal season, usually comprehending the months of March, April, and May, in the middle latitudes north of the equator. "The green lap of the new-come spring." Shak.

Reaching or comprehending only what is obvious or apparent; not deep or profound; shallow; -- said especially in respect to study, learning, and the like; as, a superficial scholar; superficial knowledge. This superficial tale Is but a preface of her worthy praise. Shak. He is a presumptuous and superficial writer. Bur…

ugh the opening of his spiritual senses in 1745. He taught that the Lord Jesus Christ, as comprehending in himself all the fullness of the Godhead, is the one only God, and that there is a spiritual sense to the Scriptures, which he (Swedenborg) was able to reveal, because he saw the correspondence between natural and…

e. -- To take in. (a) To inclose; to fence. (b) To encompass or embrace; to comprise; to comprehend. (c) To draw into a smaller compass; to contract; to brail or furl; as, to take in sail. (d) To cheat; to circumvent; to gull; to deceive. [Colloq.] (e) To admit; to receive; as, a leaky vessel will take in water. (f) T…

To understand the meaning of; to comprehend; as, do you twig me [Colloq.] Marryat.

Unable to comprehend. Narrow-spirited, uncomprehensive zealots. South.

Denoting relation to something that comprehends or includes, that represents or designates, that furnishes a cover, pretext, pretense, or the like; as, he betrayed him under the guise of friendship; Morpheus is represented under the figure of a boy asleep. A crew who, under names of old renown . . . abused Fanatic Egyp…

ry [poetry] there often an undersong of sense which none beside the poetic mind . . . can comprehend. Landor.

d adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have knowledge of; to comprehend; to know; as, to understand a problem in Euclid; to understand a proposition or a declaration; the court understands the advocate or his argument; to understand the sacred oracles; to understand a nod or a wink. Speaket…