Grasp, n. 1. A gripe or seizure of the hand; a seizure by embrace, or infolding in the arms. “The grasps of love.” Shak.
2. Reach of the arms; hence, the power of seizing and holding; as, it was beyond his grasp.
3. Forcible possession; hold.
The whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp. Shak.
4. Wide-reaching power of intellect to comprehend subjects and hold them under survey.
The foremost minds of the next... era were not, in power of grasp, equal to their predecessors. Z. Taylor.
5. The handle of a sword or of an oar.