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ψηλα^φ-άω , mostly used in pres.: fut.
A.“-ήσω” LXXZa.9.13: aor. ἐψηλάφησα ib.Ge.27.22:—Pass., fut. ψηλαφηθήσομαι ib. Na.3.1: aor. “ἐψηλαφήθην” S.E.M.8.108, Plu.2.599c:—feel or grope about to find a thing, like a blind man or hoodman-blind, χερσὶ ψηλαφόων (Ep.for -άων), of the Cyclops when blinded, Od.9.416; ψηλαφῶν οὐκ ἐδυνάμην εὑρεῖν [τὸ ἱμάτιον] Ar.Ec.315; “ψηλαφῶντες . . ὥσπερ ἐν σκότει” Pl.Phd.99b: metaph., “ψ. περί τινων” Phld.D.1.14.
2. c. acc. rei, feel about for, grope or search after, “ἐψηλαφῶμεν ἐν σκότῳ τὰ πράγματα” Ar.Pax691; εἰ . . ψηλαφήσειαν αὐτὸν (sc. τὸν θεὸν）“ καὶ εὕροιεν” Act.Ap.17.27.
II. feel, touch, handle, stroke, Poll.1.183; μή ποτε ψηλαφήσῃ με ὁ πατήρ, of Isaac and Jacob, LXXGe.27.12, cf. Ev.Luc. 24.39; “ψ. καὶ τρίβειν τοῖς δακτύλοις” Arist.HA571a33; esp. in Medic., of uterine examination, Hp.Mul.1.40, al.:—Pass., “ὧν ψηλαφωμένων ὁ ἵππος . . ἥδεται” X.Eq.2.4; [“ὄρνιθες] τῇ χειρὶ ψηλαφώμεναι” Arist. HA560a9.
III. metaph., test, examine, “τὸν ὗν” Plb.8.29.8; “τὸν οἶνον” Gp.7.5.1; “πᾶσαν ἐπίνοιαν” Plb.8.16.4; “τὰς ἀλλήλων νοήσεις οἷον ὑπὸ σκότῳ διὰ φωνῆς ψ.” Plu.2.589b; εἴδωλον [τοῦ καλοῦ] διώκοντες καὶ ψ. ib.766a:—Pass., S.E.l.c., τὰ ψηλαφηθέντα ὑπ᾽ Ἀντιόχου the attempts made by . . , J.AJ13.9.2.
Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. revised and augmented throughout by. Sir Henry Stuart Jones. with the assistance of. Roderick McKenzie. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1940.

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hide References (14 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (14):
    • Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae, 315
    • Aristophanes, Peace, 691
    • Homer, Odyssey, 9.416
    • Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 13.9.2
    • New Testament, Acts, 17.27
    • Old Testament, Genesis, 27.12
    • Old Testament, Genesis, 27.22
    • Old Testament, Nahum, 3.1
    • Old Testament, Zechariah, 9.13
    • Plato, Phaedo, 99b
    • Xenophon, On the Art of Horsemanship, 2.4
    • Polybius, Histories, 8.16.4
    • Polybius, Histories, 8.29.8
    • New Testament, Luke, 24.39
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