From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Grope \Grope\, v. t.
1. To search out by feeling in the dark; as, we groped our
way at midnight.
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2. To examine; to test; to sound. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
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Felix gropeth him, thinking to have a bribe.
--Genevan
Test. (Acts
xxiv. ).
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Grope \Grope\ (gr[=o]p), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Groped
(gr[=o]pt); p. pr. & vb. n. Groping.] [OE. gropen, gropien,
grapien, AS. gr[=a]pian to touch, grope, fr. gr[imac]pan to
gripe. See Gripe.]
1. To feel with or use the hands; to handle. [Obs.]
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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.
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We grope for the wall like the blind. --Is. lix. 10.
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To grope a little longer among the miseries and
sensualities ot a worldly life. --Buckminster.
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