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grok /grok/, var. /grohk/ vt.

[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, usually in a global sense. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. 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."