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.]
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
We grope for the wall like the blind. --Is. lix. 10.
[1913 Webster]
To grope a little longer among the miseries and
sensualities ot a worldly life. --Buckminster.
[1913 Webster]