nab

• IPA^(key): /næb/

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• Rhymes: -æb

From earlier knab, a variant of knap; but also from nap, of North Germanic origin, related to Danish nappe (“to tweak, snatch at, catch, seize”), Swedish nappa (“to take, grab, pinch”), Norwegian nappe (“to pluck”).

• knab

nab (third-person singular simple present nabs, present participle nabbing, simple past and past participle nabbed)

1. (informal, transitive) To seize, arrest or take into custody (a criminal or fugitive).
   • 1887, Anna Katharine Green, 7 to 12, A Detective Story, G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 2:

     As I was going out of the door, a fellow detective came hurriedly in. "Nabbed them," cried he.

2. (informal, transitive) To grab or snatch something.

• (arrest a criminal or fugitive): nick, bust

• nabber
• kidnap

Compare knap, knop, knob.

nab (plural nabs)

1. The summit of an eminence.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

2. The cock of a gunlock.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

3. (locksmithing) The keeper, or box into which the lock is shot.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

• ABN, BAN, BNA, Ban, NBA, ban

nab

1. pure

Cognate with Northern Tepehuan návoi, O'odham nav, Central Tarahumara napó, Mayo naabo, Hopi naavu.

nab

1. prickly pear cactus (clarification of this definition is needed)

• nab junmaꞌn

• R. de Willett, Elizabeth, et al. (2016) Diccionario tepehuano de Santa María Ocotán, Durango (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 48)‎ (in Spanish), electronic edition, Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 132

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *ʔnaŋ (“snake”). Cognate with Iu Mien naang.

• IPA^(key): /na˥/

nab

1. snake.
2. worm.

• cua nab (“earthworm”)
• ntses nab (“eel”)
• nab qa (“lizard”)

• Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)