grope

Etymology

From Middle English gropien, from Old English grāpian, related to grīpan (whence English gripe); compare also grip.

verb

1. (obsolete) To feel with or use the hands; to handle.
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.
   a. 1812. Joseph Stevens Buckminster, sermon to grope about a little longer among the miseries and sensualities of a worldly life
   Through the darkest sky, groping for the light / Like crying for the moon / Never-ending black, forgot what I want / Never felt that hard to me 2021, “The Roar of the Spark”, in Naoki Hashimoto (lyrics), Daisuke Ishiwatari (music), Necessary Discrepancy
3. To touch (another person) closely and (especially) sexually.
   The parents found the couple kissing and groping.
4. To intentionally and inappropriately touch or rub against another person, in such a manner as to make the contact appear accidental, for the purpose of one's sexual gratification.
   That old man groped that girl on the train!
5. (obsolete) To examine; to test; to sound.
   Felix gropeth him, thinking to have a bribe. 1557, Geneva Bible (Acts xxiv)

noun

1. (informal) An act of groping, especially sexually.
   The old man tried to get a quick grope of the young lady on the train.
2. (obsolete) An iron fitting of a medieval cart wheel.
   Gropes appear to be pieces of iron binding together the inner joint of the fitting, and grope-nails to have been used for fastening these to the wood. 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 544