Definition

properly, to touch, i.e. lay the hand upon (for any purpose; euphemistically, to lie with a woman); by implication, to reach (figuratively, to arrive, acquire); violently, to strike (punish, defeat, destroy, etc.)

Etymology

a primitive root;

Where the KJV renders it

• beat
• ( be able to) bring (down)
• cast
• come (nigh)
• draw near (nigh)
• get up
• happen
• join
• near
• plague
• reach (up)
• smite
• strike
• touch

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Hebrew term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.