Entry 4 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Grope

/(grōp)/ · IPA /ɡɹoʊp/

01 v. i. To feel with or use the hands; to handle.

imp. & p. p. Groped; p. pr. & vb. n. Groping

1.
To feel with or use the hands; to handle.[Obs.]
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.
“We grope for the wall like the blind.” — Is. lix. 10.

“To grope a little longer among the miseries and sensualities ot a worldly life.” — Buckminster.

02 v. t. To search out by feeling in the dark; as, we groped our way at midnight.

1.
To search out by feeling in the dark; as, we groped our way at midnight.
2.
To examine; to test; to sound.[Obs.]
“Felix gropeth him, thinking to have a bribe.” — Genevan Test. (Acts xxiv. ).