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Avaricious; greedy of gain; covetous; close; miserly; as, he is a grasping man. -- Grasp"ing*ly, adv. -- Grasp"ing*ness, n.

The act of grasping with the intellect; the contemplation of things, without affirming, denying, or passing any judgment; intellection; perception. Simple apprehension denotes no more than the soul's naked intellection of an object. Glanvill.

tion; to rouse; to excite; as, to arouse one from sleep; to arouse the dormant faculties. Grasping his spear, forth issued to arouse His brother, mighty sovereign on the host. Cowper. No suspicion was aroused. Merivale.

g againts a preceding joint or a projecting part of it, so that the whole may be ised for grasping, as the claw of a crab; pincherlike.

A close embrace; a throwing of the arms around; a grasping, as with the hand. Clasp knife, a large knife, the blade of which folds or shuts into the handle. -- Clasp lock, a lock which closes or secures itself by means of a spring.

One of a pair of organs used by the male for grasping the female among many of the Crustacea.

To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly. "Clinch the pointed spear." Dryden.

The hands, claws, or talons, in the act of grasping firmly; -- often figuratively, for power, rapacity, or cruelty; as, to fall into the clutches of an adversary. I must have . . . little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant. Bp. Stillingfleet.

The capacity of the mind to perceive and understand; the power, act, or process of grasping with the intellect; perception; understanding; as, a comprehension of abstract principles.

An avaricious, grasping fellow; a miser; a niggard; a churl. A gray-headed curmudgeon of a negro. W. Irving.

A pair of pinchers, or tongs; an instrument for grasping, holding firmly, or exerting traction upon, bodies which it would be inconvenient or impracticable to seize with the fingers, especially one for delicate operations, as those of watchmakers, surgeons, accoucheurs, dentists, etc.

To effect a grasp; to make the motion of grasping; to clutch; to struggle; to strive. As one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued. Shak. To grasp at, to catch at; to try to seize; as, Alexander grasped at universal empire,

An energetic or tenacious grasp; a holding fast; strength in grasping.

A device for grasping or holding anything; a brake to stop a wheel.

y to put up with or consent to; hence, severe; rigorous; oppressive; distressing; unjust; grasping; as, a hard lot; hard times; hard fare; a hard winter; hard conditions or terms. I never could drive a hard bargain. Burke.

The act or state of sustaining, grasping, or retaining.

One of a pair of opposing parts which are movable towards or from each other, for grasping or crushing anything between them, as, the jaws of a vise, or the jaws of a stone-crushing machine.

A covetous, grasping, mean person; esp., one having wealth, who lives miserably for the sake of saving and increasing his hoard. As some lone miser, visiting his store, Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er. Goldsmith.

erial; as, mushroom cities. Mushroom anchor, an anchor shaped like a mushroom, capable of grasping the ground in whatever way it falls. -- Mushroom coral (Zoöl.), any coral of the genus Fungia. See Fungia. -- Mushroom spawn (Bot.), the mycelium, or primary filamentous growth, of the mushroom; also, cakes of earth and…

A locksmith's pinchers for grasping the point of a key in the keyhole, to open a door from the outside when the key is inside.