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]

(1995-01-31)