grab

Formsgrabs, grabbing, grabbed

Pluralgrabs

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To take hold of something suddenly and forcefully; to seize or clutch it.

   He grabbed his bag and ran for the train.

   Quick hands grab the falling glass before it shatters.

   Similarseize, snatch, grasp, clutch, catch

   Oppositerelease

   Note

   The core sense, and a Low German loan: English took it from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German grabben, from an old root meaning "to gather, rake, seize". It takes a direct object, and grab hold of is a natural extension of it. Joseph C. Lincoln's swimmer of 1913 takes a couple of big strokes and manages to grab hold of the skiff's rail.

2. 2
   verbcolloquialtransitive

   To collect, pick up, or take something quickly.

   She grabbed a sandwich before the meeting started.

   Let me grab the files from my desk.

   Similarget, fetch, collect, snag

   Note

   The casual verb of errands, where nothing is snatched at all. I'll just grab my jacket, my purse or my gear is a fixed little formula for "wait while I fetch it," and grab a seat simply means sit down. The speed is more courtesy than fact: the word promises the listener a short wait. It belongs to speech and relaxed writing.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To make a sudden reaching or clutching movement toward something.

   She grabbed at the railing as she fell.

   Frightened, the children grab at anything within reach.

   Similarclutch, snatch, grasp

   Note

   Add at and the hand no longer has to arrive. Grabbing at a gun or a railing describes the lunge, not the catch, which is why it suits struggles and falls, while the transitive verb reports that something was actually seized. With no object at all, as in "Stop grabbing," it scolds hands that reach too eagerly.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To take eager advantage of an opportunity.

   He grabbed the chance to meet his hero in person.

   Smart investors grab every opening the market offers.

   Similarseize, take

   Oppositemiss

   Note

   A natural fit for sports reporting, where teams grab goals. Chances are taken rather than handed over. Paul Fletcher's 2012 BBC Sport report has the London side grab the decisive third goal against Blackpool after both teams had wasted good opportunities. The verb stresses seizing the moment, which is why it sits so easily beside talk of wasted and missed chances.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To capture and hold someone's attention or interest.

   The opening scene grabbed the audience immediately.

   Bold headlines grab attention faster than long paragraphs.

   Similarcapture, catch, grip, hook, engage

   Note

   Here the thing does the seizing and the person is caught: an idea, a song or a dish grabs you. How does that idea grab you? is a stock way to ask for someone's reaction, and the negative is just as idiomatic. R.E.M. sang in 1992 that instant soup doesn't really grab me, meaning it fails to appeal, not that it offends.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   A sudden snatching movement at something.

   A quick grab saved the vase from falling.

   Several grabs at the rope finally caught it.

   Similarsnatch, lunge, swipe, grasp

   Note

   The noun almost always travels with make: he made a grab for the ball, he made a grab for me. Like the reaching verb, it names the attempt rather than the success, so a grab can miss. The preposition is for, where the verb takes at. A grab for a person carries menace, and in J Davey's Six Years of Darkness the answer to one is a swung handbag.

7. 7
   verbcolloquialtransitive

   To consume food or drink quickly.

   We grabbed a bite between meetings.

   Commuters grab breakfast from the station kiosk.

   Similarsnatch, get, have

8. 8
   verbtransitive

   To seize and hold someone, especially in order to arrest them.

   Officers grabbed the suspect before he could flee.

   Security guards grab troublemakers and hold them for the police.

   Similarseize, nab, collar, apprehend, catch

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A taking of something by force or unjust means.

   The corporate grab of public water rights sparked protests.

   History records many violent grabs for territory.

   Similarseizure, takeover, appropriation

10. 10
    nouncountable

    A mechanical device that grips or clutches objects so they can be lifted or moved.

    The excavator lowered its grab into the trench.

    Mechanical grabs unload coal from the ship's hold.

    Similargrapple, claw

    Note

    A word from the docks as much as the building site. Cranes operate grabs to discharge bulk cargoes. Writing on dock working in the Railway Magazine of 1945, T. F. Cameron notes that a crane quick enough for general cargo may not be powerful enough to work them. The well-drilling grab is a specialized relative of the same idea.

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