"prehend" meaning in English

See prehend in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /pɹɪˈhɛnd/ Forms: prehends [present, singular, third-person], prehending [participle, present], prehended [participle, past], prehended [past]
Etymology: From Latin prehendere. See prehensile. Etymology templates: {{der|en|la|prehendere}} Latin prehendere Head templates: {{en-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.
    Sense id: en-prehend-en-verb-7uySl4-6 Categories (other): Philosophy, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 73 27 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 84 16 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 90 10 Topics: human-sciences, philosophy, sciences
  2. (obsolete) To lay hold of; to seize. Tags: obsolete
    Sense id: en-prehend-en-verb-POmdVOV4
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: prehendability, prehendable

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "prehendability"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "prehendable"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "prehendere"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin prehendere",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin prehendere. See prehensile.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "prehends",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "prehending",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "prehended",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "prehended",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "prehend (third-person singular simple present prehends, present participle prehending, simple past and past participle prehended)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Philosophy",
          "orig": "en:Philosophy",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "73 27",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "84 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "90 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              25,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 214:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perceive in the manner of Alfred North Whitehead's concept of prehension."
      ],
      "id": "en-prehend-en-verb-7uySl4-6",
      "links": [
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
        ],
        [
          "prehension",
          "prehension"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(philosophy) To perceive in the manner of Alfred North Whitehead's concept of prehension."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "c. 1615-1617, Thomas Middleton, The Widow\nHere they be all three now ; prehend 'em , officers"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lay hold of; to seize."
      ],
      "id": "en-prehend-en-verb-POmdVOV4",
      "links": [
        [
          "seize",
          "seize"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) To lay hold of; to seize."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pɹɪˈhɛnd/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "prehend"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms derived from Latin",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "prehendability"
    },
    {
      "word": "prehendable"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "prehendere"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin prehendere",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Latin prehendere. See prehensile.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "prehends",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "prehending",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "prehended",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "prehended",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "prehend (third-person singular simple present prehends, present participle prehending, simple past and past participle prehended)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Philosophy"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              25,
              33
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 214:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To perceive in the manner of Alfred North Whitehead's concept of prehension."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
        ],
        [
          "prehension",
          "prehension"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(philosophy) To perceive in the manner of Alfred North Whitehead's concept of prehension."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with obsolete senses"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "c. 1615-1617, Thomas Middleton, The Widow\nHere they be all three now ; prehend 'em , officers"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lay hold of; to seize."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "seize",
          "seize"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(obsolete) To lay hold of; to seize."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "obsolete"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/pɹɪˈhɛnd/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "prehend"
}

Download raw JSONL data for prehend meaning in English (2.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.