From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishgrasp at something phrasal verbHOLDto try to hold on to something His foot slipped and he grasped at the top of the wall. → grasp→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
grasp at • His foot slipped and he grasped at a piece of jutting tile and dragged himself back to safety.• Miss Verjec grasped at her whistle.• We persist in grasping at neat, simple answers, when we should be questioning everything.• But sometimes you grasp at straws.• For now, researchers admit that they are still grasping at straws.• She grasped at the barrier between us and gently eased the wire apart.• Some one grasped at the side of the cart as it went past, and Arkhina smashed his fingers with a hammer.• There were exceptions, as when Bevin grasped at what became the Marshall Plan. 