1. To grab and to hold something tightly: Each of Adriana's two little children gripped her hands as they walked across the street.

Ernest gripped the hammer and started nailing the wood together.

As a reporter, Tracie's accounts of the murder trial gripped the reader's interest.

2. To get and to maintain the interest and attention of another person or people: The storms and high temperatures have gripped the awareness of much of the world this summer.