(verb)
to separate a sentence into its grammatical components and to then analyze it by describing the roles of the parts and relationships between them;
e.g. The professor showed the students how to parse poem so that they could interpret its meaning.
(noun)
in computing, the action of analyzing a string of text by splitting it into its components of syntax, usually to test whether it conforms to some logic, or an instance of this action being performed;
e.g. The system executed a rapid parse of the input information.