# snatch

Pronunciation: say "SNACH" /snæt͡ʃ/

## Verb

1. To grab something and take it away quickly, often abruptly or without permission or ceremony.
   - Simple: To grab something and take it away fast, often without asking.
   - _She snatched the remote out of his hand and switched off the game._
   - _Whenever the phone rings, I snatch it up before the second ring._
2. To steal something, whether from a person or from a place. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To steal something that belongs to someone else.
   - _Somebody snatched two packages off our porch before we got home._
   - _Hackers can snatch your passwords if you log in carelessly on public Wi-Fi._
3. To have or do something quickly in the little time available, such as a meal, some sleep, or a glance. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To quickly have something, like food or sleep, when there is not much time.
   - _Between shifts, the nurses snatch a few minutes of rest wherever they can._
   - _She snatched a look at her notes before walking on stage._
4. To take a victory at the very last moment, just before a game or contest ends. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To win at the very last moment, just before the end.
   - _A three-pointer at the buzzer let the visitors snatch victory from the home team._
   - _Her rival snatched the championship on the very last lap of the season._
7. To make a sudden grab or reach for something, trying to seize it.
   - Simple: To reach out fast and try to grab something.
   - _As she slipped, she snatched at a branch, but it broke off in her hand._
   - _Panicking swimmers will snatch at anything within reach, even their rescuers._

## Noun

5. A quick act of grabbing or catching something, such as a ball in flight.
   - Simple: A fast grab, or a fast catch of something like a ball.
   - _The shortstop made a diving snatch to rob the batter of a hit._
   - _He took the keys off the hook with a snatch and was out the door._
6. A brief fragment of sound, usually of music or conversation.
   - Simple: A short bit of a sound, most often music or people talking.
   - _Snatches of conversation drifted up from the café terrace below._
   - _Every few minutes the car radio picked up a snatch of a ballgame before the static came back._
8. A brief period of time.
   - Simple: A short amount of time.
   - _New parents learn to sleep in snatches, an hour here and twenty minutes there._
   - _In a brief snatch of time between meetings, she called home._
9. An event in competitive weightlifting in which the lifter raises a barbell from the platform to locked arms overhead in one smooth, continuous movement.
   - Simple: A weightlifting event: lifting a bar from the floor to straight arms above your head in one smooth move.
   - _He missed his opening attempt in the snatch but made the next two._
   - _Before adding weight, the coach had us practice the snatch with an empty bar._
10. A vulgar word for the vulva, the external female genitals. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A very rude word for the private parts between a woman's legs.
   - _He kept making crude remarks about women's snatches until the bartender threw him out._
   - _She took the soccer ball straight to the snatch and doubled over, swearing._

## Noun

11. A quick snack or small bite of food eaten in a hurry. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A small amount of food you eat in a hurry.
   - _They stopped at a roadside stand for a snatch and a cup of coffee._
   - _The farmhands had only a hurried snatch of dinner at midday before heading back to the fields._
12. A short spell of hard effort or work. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A short time of working or trying very hard.
   - _Between rests, the crew bent to the pumps for another hard snatch._
   - _He split and stacked the whole woodpile in one furious snatch before the rain came._
13. A sudden catch or break in someone's voice. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A sudden stop or break in the sound of someone's voice.
   - _He read the eulogy steadily until a snatch in his voice made him stop._
   - _Even over a bad phone line, I could hear the snatch in his voice when he mentioned his father._
14. A petty objection over a small point, or a clever dodge that avoids the real issue. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A small complaint about an unimportant detail, or a trick to avoid the real question.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Rapid, uncommanded jerking or oscillation of the ailerons of some aircraft at high Mach numbers, resulting from shock wave formation at transonic speeds.

## Origin

From Middle English snacchen, snecchen, which came either from Old English *snæċċan, *sneċċan or from Middle Dutch snacken, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *snakkijaną, *snakkōną (“to nibble, snort, chatter”). It is cognate with Dutch snakken (“to sob, pant, long for”), Low German snacken (“to chatter”), German schnacken, Danish snakke and Norwegian snakke (all “to chat”), and is related to snack.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/snatch (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).