An act or effort made in the pursuit of knowledge, A literary work treating a particular subject or character, The mental effort of understanding, appreciating, and assimilating anything, especially a book; the earnest and protracted examination of a question, by reflection, collection and scrutiny of evidence, and otherwise; the pursuit of learning, intransitive verb_ To give careful thought to; contemplate, Medicine To perform a diagnostic test on (a part of the body, for example), To pursue a course of study