prehend

English

Etymology

From Latin prehendere. See prehensile.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹɪˈhɛnd/

Verb

prehend (third-person singular simple present prehends, present participle prehending, simple past and past participle prehended)

1. (philosophy) To perceive in the manner of Alfred North Whitehead's concept of prehension.
   • 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 214:

     Each of the four levels "prehends" the other, and so in the punning of words so frequent in hieroglyphic writing, we encounter a richer and more inclusive mode of thought than we are accustomed to.

2. (obsolete) To lay hold of; to seize.
   • c. 1615-1617, Thomas Middleton, The Widow

     Here they be all three now ; prehend 'em , officers

References

• “prehend”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.