The Collaborative International Dictionary
Reach \Reach\, v. i.
-
To stretch out the hand.
Goddess humane, reach, then, and freely taste!
--Milton. -
To strain after something; to make efforts.
Reaching above our nature does no good.
--Dryden. -
To extend in dimension, time, amount, action, influence, etc., so as to touch, attain to, or be equal to, something.
And behold, a ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven.
--Gen. xxviii. 12.The new world reaches quite across the torrid zone.
--Boyle. -
(Naut.) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
To reach after or To reach for or To reach at, to make efforts to attain to or obtain.
He would be in the posture of the mind reaching after a positive idea of infinity.
--Locke.
Usage examples of "to reach for".
They barely had time to reach for handholds before the hydrofoil shot backward in full reverse.
I was about to reach for my bag when suddenly the driver's side door was ripped open, and I was yanked from behind the wheel.
Suliman's face went deathly pale from shock as his life's blood gushed from the remains of the stump, and reflexively he tried to reach for his sword.
He held his hand out so I could take it, realizing belatedly that I couldn't free up a hand to reach for it.
They made things worse, it seemed, because I had a feeling that a different sort of life was within my grasp if I only had the courage to reach for it.
Arthur didn't want to reach for his billfold here, but he had no choice.
When at last he nerved himself to reach for the castle again, to search for Buglet there, his shock and grief and helpless rage rose in a storm of feeling that prevented any perception.
Adrienne looked as if she were about to reach for paper and ink and start scribbling notes.