Link Centre Dictionary

grab

UK/ɡɹæb/ US/ˈɡɹæb/ common informal slang
verb (6) noun (2)

verb

1.

take hold of so as to seize or restrain or stop the motion of

  • “Catch the ball!”
  • “Grab the elevator door!”
Synonyms
2.

get hold of or seize quickly and easily

  • “I snapped up all the good buys during the garage sale”
Synonyms
3.

make a grasping or snatching motion with the hand

  • “The passenger grabbed for the oxygen mask”
4.

obtain illegally or unscrupulously

  • “Grab power”
5.

take or grasp suddenly

  • “She grabbed the child”
6.

capture the attention or imagination of

  • “This story will grab you”
  • “The movie seized my imagination”
Synonyms

noun

1.
2.

the act of catching an object with the hands

  • “Mays made the catch with his back to the plate”
  • “he made a grab for the ball before it landed”
  • “Martin”
  • “;”
  • “s snap and throw was a single motion”
Synonyms

Origin

From Middle Dutch grabben or Middle Low German grabben (“to grasp, grab, seize, snatch”), from Old Saxon gravan, from Proto-West Germanic *grabbōn, a secondary form of Proto-Germanic *grabōną (“to gather, rake”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (“to gather, rake, grab, seize”). Related to archaic German grappen (“to grab”), Danish grabbe (“to grab”), Swedish grabba (“to grab”), Old Norse grápa (“to seize, appropriate”), Middle English grappen (“to feel, grope, grasp, clutch”), Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”). Related also to Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇā́ti), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇā́ti, “he seizes”), Avestan 𐬔𐬭𐬀𐬠 (grab, “to seize”)), Macedonian грабне (grabne, “to snatch”), Bulgarian грабя (grabja, “to rob, to grab”).

Phrases

  • a drowning man will grab at a straw Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • a drowning man will grab at straws Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • bash and grab Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • cash grab Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • double grab Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • grab and go Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • grab and run Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)
  • grab ass Terms derived from grab (all parts of speech)

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

See also

Related verbs

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.