grope

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Groped p. pr. & vb. n. Groping. ] [ OE. gropen, gropien, grapien, AS. grāpian to touch, grope, fr. grīpan to gripe. See Gripe. ] 1. To feel with or use the hands; to handle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To search or attempt to find something in the dark, or, as a blind person, by feeling; to move about hesitatingly, as in darkness or obscurity; to feel one's way, as with the hands, when one can not see. [ 1913 Webster ]

We grope for the wall like the blind. Is. lix. 10. [ 1913 Webster ]

To grope a little longer among the miseries and sensualities ot a worldly life. Buckminster. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To search out by feeling in the dark; as, we groped our way at midnight. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To examine; to test; to sound. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Felix gropeth him, thinking to have a bribe. Genevan Test. (Acts xxiv. ). [ 1913 Webster ]