Adjacent Words

Prehensile definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PREHEN'SILE, a. [L. prehendo, to take or seize; prehensus.]
Seizing; grasping; adapted to seize or grasp. The tails of some monkeys are prehensile.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: adapted for grasping especially by wrapping around an object; "a monkey's prehensile tail" [ant: nonprehensile]
2: having a keen intellect; "poets--those gifted strangely prehensile men"- A.T.Quiller-Couch
3: immoderately desirous of acquiring e.g. wealth; "they are avaricious and will do anything for money"; "casting covetous eyes on his neighbor's fields"; "a grasping old miser"; "grasping commercialism"; "greedy for money and power"; "grew richer and greedier"; "prehensile employers stingy with raises for their employees" [syn: avaricious, covetous, grabby, grasping, greedy, prehensile]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: French préhensile, from Latin prehensus, past participle of prehendere to seize — more at get Date: circa 1785 1. adapted for seizing or grasping especially by wrapping around <prehensile tail> 2. gifted with mental grasp or moral or aesthetic perception • prehensility noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. Zool. (of a tail or limb) capable of grasping. Derivatives: prehensility n. Etymology: F préhensile f. L prehendere prehens- (as PRE-, hendere grasp)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Prehensile Pre*hen"sile, a. [L. prehensus, p. p. of prehendere to lay hold of, seize; pre- (equiv. to prae before) + hendere (in comp.), akin to E. get: cf. F. pr['e]hensile. See Get, and cf. Prison, Prize, n.] Adapted to seize or grasp; seizing; grasping; as, the prehensile tail of a monkey.

Moby Thesaurus

acquisitive, all-knowing, apperceptive, appercipient, apprehending, apprehensive, aware, clawed, cognizant, comprehending, conscious, dentate, desirous, digital, digitate, digitated, fanged, fingered, grabby, grasping, greedy, insightful, intelligent, itchy, jawed, knowing, knowledgeable, mindful, omniscient, perceptive, percipient, perspicacious, raptorial, sagacious, sensible, shrewd, taloned, toothed, understanding, wise