grab

See also Grab

English

Etymology

From Middle Dutch grabben (“to grab”) or Middle Low German grabben (“to snap”), from Proto-Germanic *grab-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerebʰ- (compare Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇāti, “he seizes”), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇāti)). Cognate with Danish grabbe (“to grab”), Swedish grabba (“to grab”), Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɹæb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

Verb

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.

   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, p117

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

   • 1999 Jillian Dagg, Racing Hearts, Thomas Bouregy & Co., p105

     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, p216

     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”, 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.

Translations

to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)

• Albanian: rrëmbej (sq)
• Arabic: قبض (ar) (qábaDa)
• Bengali: ধরা (bn)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 抓住 (cmn) (zhuāzhù)

• Czech: chytit (cs), uchopit (cs)
• Dutch: grijpen (nl)
• Esperanto: ekkapti (eo)
• Finnish: tarttua (fi), tarrata (fi)
• French: attraper (fr), empoigner (fr)
• German: greifen (de)
• Italian: afferrare (it)
• Japanese: 掴む (ja) (つかむ, tsukamu)
• Latin: sumo (la), capio (la), prehendo (la)
• Persian: گرفتن (fa) (gereftan)

• Polish: wyrywać (pl), porywać (pl), chwytać (pl), złapać (pl)
• Portuguese: pegar (pt)
• Romanian: apuca (ro)
• Russian: схватывать (ru) (sxvátyvat’) impf., хватать (ru) (xvatát’) impf., схватить (ru) (sxvatít’) pf.
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese Sardinian: afferrài

  Gallurese Sardinian: affarrà

  Logudorese Sardinian: aggaffare

• Sassarese Sardinian: agguantà
• Spanish: agarrar (es)
• Swedish: gripa (sv), ta tag i (sv)
• Turkish: yakalamak (tr)

to restrain someone; to arrest

• Albanian: kap (sq)
• Finnish: pidättää (fi), vangita (fi)
• Italian: arrestare (it)

• Spanish: detener (es), arrestar (es)
• Swedish: gripa (sv), arrestera (sv)
• Turkish: yakalamak (tr), ele geçirmek (tr)

to grip the attention; to enthrall

• Albanian: kap (sq)

• Finnish: vangita (fi)

Noun

grab (plural grabs)

1. a sudden snatch (for something)
   • 1931 Harold M. Sherman, "The Baseball Clown," Boys' Life, Vol. 21, No. 4 (April 1931), Boy Scouts of America, p47

     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, p66

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

2. a mechanical device that grabs
3. (media) a soundbite

Derived terms

• attention-grabbing
• ungrab
• up for grabs

Synonyms

• catch
• clutch
• grasp
• seize
• snatch

Translations

the act of grabbing something or someone

• Albanian: kapje (sq)
• Finnish: tarttuminen (fi)

• Hungarian: megragadás (hu), megfogás (hu)
• Portuguese: pegar (pt)

a mechanical device that grabs

• Albanian: kapëse (sq)
• Finnish: koura (fi)

• Hungarian: markológép (hu)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Catalan: agafar (ca)
• Serbo-Croatian: poseći (sh), posegnuti (sh)
• Esperanto: kapti (eo)
• French: saisir (fr)

• Italian: afferrare (it)
• Portuguese: agarrar (pt)
• Spanish: agarrar (es)

Anagrams

• brag
• garb

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Polish

Wikipedia ^pl

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ɡrap]

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

grab m

1. hornbeam, any tree of genus Carpinus.

Declension

    declension of grab

	singular	plural
nominative	grab	graby
genitive	grabu	grabów
dative	grabowi	grabom
accusative	grab	graby
instrumental	grabem	grabami
locative	grabie	grabach
vocative	grabie	graby

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Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

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

Noun

grab m (Cyrillic spelling граб)

1. hornbeam

Declension

    declension of grab

	singular	plural
nominative	grab	grabovi
genitive	graba	grabova
dative	grabu	grabovima
accusative	grab	grabove
vocative	grabe/grabu	grabovi
locative	grabu	grabovima
instrumental	grabom	grabovima