grab

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹæb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

From Middle Dutch grabben (“to grab”) or Middle Low German grabben (“to snap”), from Proto-Germanic *grab-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (compare Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇā́ti), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇā́ti, “he seizes”), Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬡‎ (garəβ, “to seize”)). Cognate with Danish grabbe (“to grab”), Swedish grabba (“to grab”), Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”), Middle English grappen (“to feel with the hands; grope”), Macedonian грабне (grabne, “to snatch”), грабвам (grabvam, “to snatch”).

grab (third-person singular simple present grabs, present participle grabbing, simple past and past participle grabbed)

1. (transitive) To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 7, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.

   I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge.

2. (intransitive) To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).

   The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.

3. To restrain someone; to arrest.
4. To grip the attention; to enthrall.
5. (informal) To quickly collect or retrieve.
   • 1987 James Grady Just a Shot Away, Bantam, page 117:

     "I'll just grab my jacket," said Manh-Hung.

   • 1999 Jillian Dagg, Racing Hearts, Thomas Bouregy & Co., page 105:

     Hardly believing that Rafe actually planned to relax for a while, Kate nodded. "All right. Fine. I'll just go grab my purse."

   • 2009 Mike Taylor, A Thousand Sleeps, Tate Publishing, page 216:

     He looked at Albert and Ben, and then back to Nurse Allen. "I'll just grab my gear and be right back."

6. (informal) To consume something quickly.

   We'll just grab a sandwich and then we'll be on our way.

   Is there time to grab a coffee?

7. To take the opportunity of.
   • 2012 May 19, Paul Fletcher, “Blackpool 1-2 West Ham”, in BBC Sport:

     Both teams wasted good opportunities to score but it was the London side who did grab what proved to be the decisive third when the unmarked Vaz Te, a January signing from Barnsley, drilled the ball into the net from 12 yards.

grab (countable and uncountable, plural grabs)

1. (countable) A sudden snatch at something.
   • 1931 Harold M. Sherman, "The Baseball Clown," Boys' Life, volume 21, No. 4 (April 1931), Boy Scouts of America, page 47:

     The ball popped in and popped out, and when he made a grab for it on the ground he kicked it with his foot.

   • 2003 J Davey, Six Years of Darkness, Trafford Publishing, page 66:

     He made a grab for me and I swung my handbag at him as hard as I could.

2. (countable) An acquisition by violent or unjust means.
3. (countable) A mechanical device that grabs or clutches.
   1. A device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.
4. (countable, media) A sound bite.
   • 2008, Melissa Agnew, Here is the (Australian) News

     For example, one radio bulletin may feature one central issue, like a state election, and will focus on that issue. The bulletin might contain only a few voice wraps but many grabs, leaving the focus firmly on the newsreader.

5. (obsolete) That which is seized.
6. (uncountable) A simple card game.

• catch
• clutch
• grasp
• seize
• snatch

• attention-grabbing
• ungrab
• up for grabs

Arabic and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

grab (plural grabs)

1. A two- or three-masted vessel used on the Malabar coast.

• ARGB, brag, garb

From Proto-Slavic *grabrъ.

• IPA^(key): [ɡrap]

grab m

1. hornbeam (tree of genus Carpinus)

From Proto-Slavic *grab(r)ъ, from Proto-Indo-European *grābʰ-

• IPA^(key): /ɡrap/

• Audio

  (file)

grab m inan

1. hornbeam, any tree of genus Carpinus.

• grabowy

From Proto-Slavic *grab(r)ъ, from Proto-Indo-European *grābʰ-

grab m (Cyrillic spelling граб)

1. hornbeam