grok

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

grok
    v 1: get the meaning of something; "Do you comprehend the
         meaning of this letter?" [syn: {grok}, {get the picture},
         {comprehend}, {savvy}, {dig}, {grasp}, {compass},
         {apprehend}]

from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)

grok
 /grok/, /grohk/, vt.

   [common; from the novel Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert A.
   Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning literally `to drink' and
   metaphorically `to be one with'] The emphatic form is grok in
   fullness.

   1. To understand. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. When you
   claim to `grok' some knowledge or technique, you are asserting that
   you have not merely learned it in a detached instrumental way but that
   it has become part of you, part of your identity. For example, to say
   that you "know" {LISP} is simply to assert that you can code in it if
   necessary -- but to say you "grok" LISP is to claim that you have
   deeply entered the world-view and spirit of the language, with the
   implication that it has transformed your view of programming. Contrast
   {zen}, which is similar supernal understanding experienced as a single
   brief flash. See also {glark}.

   2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient understanding.
   "Almost all C compilers grok the void type these days."

from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)

grok

   /grok/, /grohk/ (From the novel "Stranger in a Strange Land",
   by Robert A. Heinlein, where it is a Martian word meaning
   literally "to drink" and metaphorically "to be one with")

   1. To understand, usually in a global sense.  Connotes
   intimate and exhaustive knowledge.

   Contrast {zen}, which is similar supernal understanding
   experienced as a single brief flash.  See also {glark}.

   2. Used of programs, may connote merely sufficient
   understanding.  "Almost all C compilers grok the "void" type
   these days."

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1995-01-31)