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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Penetrate \Pen"e*trate\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Penetrated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Penetrating}.] [L. penetratus, p. p. of penetrare to penetrate; akin to penitus inward, inwardly, and perh. to pens with, in the power of, penus store of food, innermost part of a temple.]
1. To enter into; to make way into the interior of; to effect an entrance into; to pierce; as, light penetrates darkness.
2. To affect profoundly through the senses or feelings; to touch with feeling; to make sensible; to move deeply; as, to penetrate one's heart with pity. --Shak.
The translator of Homer should penetrate himself with a sense of the plainness and directness of Homer's style. --M. Arnold.
3. To pierce into by the mind; to arrive at the inner contents or meaning of, as of a mysterious or difficult subject; to comprehend; to understand.
Things which here were too subtile for us to penetrate. --Ray.
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