1590s, transitive, "afford refuge;" 1630s, intransitive, "take refuge, seek shelter or protection," from refuge (n.) or (adj.). Marked "now rare" in OED; take refuge being the more usual verb form. Related: Refuged; refuging.

mid-14c., "to understand, take into the mind, grasp by understanding," late 14c., "to take in, include;" from Latin comprehendere "to take together, to unite; include; seize" (of catching fire or the arrest of criminals); also "to comprehend, perceive" (to seize or take in the mind), from com "with, together," here probably "completely" (see com-) + prehendere "to catch hold of, seize."

The (partial) range of senses in Latin prehendere was "to lay hold of, to grasp, snatch, seize, catch; occupy violently; take by surprise, catch in the act; to reach, arrive at;" of trees, "to take root;" of the mind, "to seize, apprehend, comprehend," though this last sense is marked "very rare" in Lewis & Short.

It is a compound of  prae- "before" (see pre-) + -hendere, found only in compounds, from PIE root *ghend- "to seize, take." De Vaan regards the compound as Proto-Italic. Related: Comprehended; comprehending.

Compare the sense development in German begriefen, literally "to seize," but, through the writings of the 14c. mystics, "to seize with the mind, to comprehend."

"cause to take root," late 15c., from Late Latin radicatus, past participle of radicare "to take root," from radix "root" (from PIE root *wrād- "branch, root"). Middle English had also radicacion (c. 1500) "fact or condition of being rooted." 

c. 1600, from Late Latin susceptibilis "capable, sustainable, susceptible," from Latin suscept-, past-participle stem of suscipere "to take, catch, take up, lift up; receive, admit; submit to; sustain, support, bear; acknowledge, accept," from sub "up from under" (see sub-) + capere "to take," from PIE root *kap- "to grasp." Susceptive in the same sense is recorded from early 15c. Related: Susceptibly.

late 14c., "an instance typical of a class; a model, either good or bad, action or conduct as an object of imitation; an example to be avoided; punishment as a warning," partial re-Latinization of earlier essample, asaumple (mid-13c.), from Old French essemple "sample, model, example, precedent, cautionary tale," from Latin exemplum "a sample, specimen; image, portrait; pattern, model, precedent; a warning example, one that serves as a warning," literally "that which is taken out," from eximere "remove, take out, take away; free, release, deliver, make an exception of," from ex "out" (see ex-) + emere "buy," originally "take," from PIE root *em- "to take, distribute." 

"containing much in comparatively small limits," 1610s, from French comprehénsif, from Late Latin comprehensivus, from comprehens-, past participle stem of Latin comprehendere "to take together, to unite; include; to comprehend, perceive" (to seize or take in the mind), from com "with, together," here probably "completely" (see com-) + prehendere "to catch hold of, seize," from prae- "before" (see pre-) + -hendere, from PIE root *ghend- "to seize, take." Related: Comprehensively (mid-15c.); comprehensiveness.