*rasp*

‖n. pl. [ NL., fr. Gr. &unr_;&unr_;&unr_;&unr_; to be bordered or edged. ] (Zool.) The hydroid or naked-eyed medusæ. See Hydroidea. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Of or pertaining to the Craspedota. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. a genus of African snakes comprising the mambas.
Syn. -- Dendroaspis, genus Dendroaspis, genus Dendraspis. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Engrasped p. pr. & vb. n. Engrasping. ] To grasp; to grip. [ R. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Grasper p. pr. & vb. n. Qraspine. ] [ OE. graspen; prob. akin to LG. grupsen, or to E. grope. Cf. Grab, Grope. ] 1. To seize and hold by clasping or embracing with the fingers or arms; to catch to take possession of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy hand is made to grasp a palmer's staff. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To lay hold of with the mind; to become thoroughly acquainted or conversant with; to comprehend. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To effect a grasp; to make the motion of grasping; to clutch; to struggle; to strive. [ 1913 Webster ]

As one that grasped And tugged for life and was by strength subdued. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To grasp at, to catch at; to try to seize; as, Alexander grasped at universal empire, [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A gripe or seizure of the hand; a seizure by embrace, or infolding in the arms. “The grasps of love.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Reach of the arms; hence, the power of seizing and holding; as, it was beyond his grasp. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Forcible possession; hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

The whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Wide-reaching power of intellect to comprehend subjects and hold them under survey. [ 1913 Webster ]

The foremost minds of the next . . . era were not, in power of grasp, equal to their predecessors. Z. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The handle of a sword or of an oar. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being grasped. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who grasps or seizes; one who catches or holds. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Seizing; embracing; catching. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Avaricious; greedy of gain; covetous; close; miserly; as, he is a grasping man. -- Grasp"ing*ly, adv. -- Grasp"ing*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without a grasp; relaxed. [ 1913 Webster ]

From my graspless hand Drop friendship's precious pearls. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_;, fr. &unr_; to cover with a shield; "ype`r over + &unr_; shield.] One who holds a shield over another; hence, a defender. [Obs.] Chillingworth. [1913 Webster]

a. [ Infra + spinal. ] (Anat.) (a) Below the vertebral column, subvertebral. (b) Below the spine; infraspinate; infraspinous.

{ } a. [ Infra + spinate, spinous. ] (Anat.) Below the spine; infraspinal; esp., below the spine of the scapula; as, the infraspinous fossa; the infraspinate muscle. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. para- + sphenoid. ] (Anat.) Near the sphenoid bone; -- applied especially to a bone situated immediately beneath the sphenoid in the base of the skull in many animals. -- n. The parasphenoid bone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Rasped p. pr. & vb. n. Rasping. ] [ OF. rasper, F. râper, to scrape, grate, rasp, fr. OHG. raspōn to scrape together, to collect, probably akin to E. rap. Cf. Rap to snatch. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To rub or file with a rasp; to rub or grate with a rough file; as, to rasp wood to make it smooth; to rasp bones to powder. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hence, figuratively: To grate harshly upon; to offend by coarse or rough treatment or language; as, some sounds rasp the ear; his insults rasped my temper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. raspe, OF. raspe, F. râpe. See Rasp, v. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. A coarse file, on which the cutting prominences are distinct points raised by the oblique stroke of a sharp punch, instead of lines raised by a chisel, as on the true file. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The raspberry. [ Obs. ] “Set sorrel amongst rasps, and the rasps will be the smaller.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rasp palm (Bot.), a Brazilian palm tree (Iriartea exorhiza) which has strong aerial roots like a screw pine. The roots have a hard, rough surface, and are used by the natives for graters and rasps, whence the common name. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ LL. ] See Raspatory. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. raspatorium: cf. F. raspatoir. See Rasp, v. ] A surgeon's rasp. Wiseman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From E. rasp, in allusion to the apparent roughness of the fruit. ] (Bot.) (a) The thimble-shaped fruit of the Rubus Idaeus and other similar brambles; as, the black, the red, and the white raspberry. (b) The shrub bearing this fruit. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Technically, raspberries are those brambles in which the fruit separates readily from the core or receptacle, in this differing from the blackberries, in which the fruit is firmly attached to the receptacle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, rasps; a scraper. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The raspberry. [ Obs. ] Langham. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a rasp, or the sound made by a rasp; grating. R. D. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) Situated above the sphenoidal bone; as, the suprasphenoidal appendage, or pituitary body. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Anat.) (a) Situated above the vertebral column. (b) Situated above a spine or spines; supraspinate; supraspinous. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. (Anat.) Situated above a spine or spines; especially, situated above, or on the dorsal side of, the neural spines of the vertebral column, or above, or in front of, the spine of the scapula. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ NL., fr. Gr. te`tra- (see Tetra-) + &unr_; to draw, pull. ] (Mach.) A machine in which four pulleys act together. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Tetra- + Gr. &unr_; a seed. ] (Bot.) Having four seeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tetraspermous plant, a plant which produces four seeds in each flower. [ 1913 Webster ]