An attempt is made to study purposeless, grasplike movements of adults in the context of meaning 'a wish to get close to or away from some object', such as mother, breast, milk, or food. Data are presented to demonstrate that this pattern has an inherited biological basis. In what appears to be a well-documented piece of research, the hypothesis as to the meaning of the grasping was borne out. The authors place this grasping movement, along with the infant's rooting reflex, as precursors in the adult of meaning 'no'. The paper includes a discussion of some of Spitz's work.