Bible Dictionary
APPREHEND
To apprehend may mean to arrest or seize someone. It can also mean to grasp, lay hold of, attain, or comprehend, as in Paul’s desire to lay hold of what Christ had appointed for him.
Definition
To apprehend may mean to arrest, seize, grasp, take possession of, attain, or comprehend. Its sense depends on the context: it may describe physical arrest or the determined laying hold of something sought.
Biblical Usage
The New Testament uses the term for arrest and for seizing or grasping. Paul speaks of laying hold of what he had been laid hold of for, and another passage concerns darkness not overcoming the light.
Historical Background
The supplied material distinguishes the Greek terms piazo, “to arrest,” and katalambano, “to seize,” “attain,” or “lay fast hold of.”
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>ap-re-hend': Occurs in the New Testament in two meanings: "to arrest" (piazo; Ac 12:4; 2Co 11:32 the Revised Version (British and American), "take"); and "to seize," "grasp," "take into one's possession," "attain," "inquire eagerly" (katalambano, the American Standard Revised Version "laid hold on," "laid fast hold of," Php 3:12,13; Eph 3:18). In Joh 1:5, "The darkness apprehended it not," the Revised Version, margin gives "overcame not." See COMPREHEND.</p>