From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
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 The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
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.?
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