Grok




/grok/, /grohk/ (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")

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."

[Jargon File]



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GRIP
gripenet
gritch
grix
groff
glark
grok
high moby
under the hood
wizard
gronk
gronked
group
Group 3
Group 4