grope

Word family

grope1 /ɡrəʊp $ ɡroʊp/ verb

1 [intransitiveI]TOUCH to try to find something that you cannot see by feeling with your hands 〔在黑暗中〕摸索

grope for

Ginny groped for her glasses on the bedside table.

金尼在床头柜上摸着找眼镜。

grope around

We groped around in the darkness.

我们在黑暗中摸索。

2 TOUCH[intransitiveI, transitiveT] to go somewhere by feeling the way with your hands because you cannot see 〔因看不见而用手〕摸索着走

grope your way along/across etc

I was groping my way blindly through the trees.

我像瞎子似的在树丛中摸索着往前走。

Ally groped steadily towards the door.

艾丽摸索着稳步朝门口走去。

3 grope for something to try hard to find the right words to say or the right solution to a problem but without any real idea of how to do this 努力寻找〔恰当的言辞或正确的解决办法〕

She hesitated, seeming to grope for words.

她犹豫了一下，像是在寻找恰当的词语。

4. [transitiveT] informalSYTOUCH to move your hands over someone’s body to get sexual pleasure, especially when they do not want you to do this 爱抚〔尤指当对方不愿意的时候〕

Examples from the Corpus

grope• I groped a few more feet into the bush.• She set Janir down in the garden where he groped around and tested the dirt with his mouth.• Then she groped at her shoulder to where the oxygen tank was moulded around her triceps.• He was merely groping for the road to freedom.• Mr. Kinnock I think the answer that the Prime Minister was groping for was yes.• Sometimes, but only very rarely do I touch a piece of bliss when I grope in the dark.• Fumbling and vague groping is encouraged.

grope for• He looked tired, and occasionally groped for words at the news conference.

grope your way along/across etc• She groped her way across and landed the doctor on the mud and he slithered on hands and knees up to the bank.

grope2 noun [countableC usually singular]

informalSY touching someone’s body to get sexual pleasure, especially when they do not want you to do this 爱抚〔尤指当对方不愿意的时候〕

Examples from the Corpus

grope• But this was a dark place of gropes and whispers, of black silhouettes.• Berkoff portrays a lonely middle-aged woman who has had more than her fair share of gropes in corners and one-night stands.• Unable to see out the operator inside was responsible for a few unintentional gropes during rehearsals!

Origin grope1

Old English grapian

grope1 verbgrope2 noun

Chinese

Corpus