Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - grope

(gropes, groping, groped) 1. If you grope for something that you cannot see, you try to find it by moving your hands around in order to feel it. With his left hand he groped for the knob, turned it, and pulled the door open... Bunbury groped in his breast pocket for his wallet. = fumble VERB: V for n, V adv/prep 2. If you grope your way to a place, you move there, holding your hands in front of you and feeling the way because you cannot see anything. I didn’t turn on the light, but groped my way across the room. = feel VERB: V way prep/adv 3. If you grope for something, for example the solution to a problem, you try to think of it, when you have no real idea what it could be. She groped for a simple word to express a simple idea. VERB: V for n, also V towards n • groping (gropings) They continue their groping towards a constitutional settlement. N-VAR 4. If one person gropes another, they touch or take hold of them in a rough, sexual way. (INFORMAL) He would try to grope her breasts and put his hand up her skirt. VERB: V n c darkgreen]disapproval • Grope is also a noun. She even boasted of having a grope in a cupboard with a 13-year-old. N-COUNT