grab

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹæb/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æb

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 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”).

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.

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern.

2. (intransitive) To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).

   The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.

   Stop grabbing or I won't give you any cookies.

3. To restrain someone; to arrest.
4. (transitive) To grip the attention of; to enthrall or interest.

   How does that idea grab you?

   • 1992, “The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite”, in Automatic for the People, performed by R.E.M.:

     Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me
     Today I need something more substantial

5. (informal) To quickly collect, retrieve, or take.

   Come in and grab a seat [i.e. sit down].

   • 1987, James Grady, Just a Shot Away, Bantam, page 117:

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

   • 1999, Jillian Dagg, Racing Hearts, Thomas Bouregy & Co., page 105:

     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, page 216:

     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”, in 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.

grab (countable and uncountable, plural grabs)

1. (countable) A sudden snatch at something.
   • 1931 April, Harold M. Sherman, “The Baseball Clown”, in Boys' Life, volume 21, number 4, Boy Scouts of America, page 47:

     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, page 66:

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

2. (countable) An acquisition by violent or unjust means.
3. (countable) A mechanical device that grabs or clutches.
   • 1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 11:

     Almost all modern cranes are electrically operated and a quick-acting type of 30 cwt. capacity is suitable for general cargo, but not powerful enough to operate grabs for discharge of bulk cargoes.

   1. A device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.
4. (countable, media) A sound bite.
   • 2008, Melissa Agnew, Here is the (Australian) News:

     For example, one radio bulletin may feature one central issue, like a state election, and will focus on that issue. The bulletin might contain only a few voice wraps but many grabs, leaving the focus firmly on the newsreader.

5. (obsolete) That which is seized.
6. (firefighting, slang) The rescue of a person from a burning structure.
   • 2022, Mark van der Feyst, ‎Matt Wehrle, ‎Rob Wiggins, The Tactical Firefighter

     There have been many rescues made as a result of an aggressive search team who went in without a hoseline to make the grab.

7. (uncountable) A simple card game.

• catch
• clutch
• grasp
• seize
• snatch

From Arabic غُرَاب (ḡurāb) and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

grab (plural grabs)

1. A two- or three-masted vessel used on the Malabar coast.

• ghorab, ghrab, ghurab, gurab

• Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “GRAB”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […], page 391.

• ARGB, brag, garb

From Proto-Slavic *grabrъ.

• IPA^(key): [ɡrap]

grab m inan

1. hornbeam (tree of genus Carpinus)

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “grab”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “grab”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

• grap

From Proto-West Germanic *grab, from Proto-Germanic *grabą, *grabō (“grave, trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”).

Compare Old Saxon graf (Low German Graf, Graff), Dutch graf, Old English græf (English grave), Old Frisian gref (West Frisian grêf), Old Norse grǫf (Danish grav, Icelandic gröf), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰 (graba).

grab n

1. grave
2. tomb

• Middle High German: grap
  • Central Franconian: Grav, Jrav

    Hunsrik: Graab

    Luxembourgish: Graf

  • Bavarian:

    Cimbrian: grap

  • East Central German:

    Vilamovian: graob, grob

  • East Franconian:
  • German: Grab
  • Rhine Franconian: Grab

    Frankfurterisch: [krɑːp], (plural) [kʀεːvæ̆]

  • Yiddish: גרוב (grub)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrap/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: grab
• Homophones: Grab, grap

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *grabrъ.

grab m inan (related adjective grabowy)

1. hornbeam (any tree of the genus Carpinus)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

grab f

1. genitive plural of graba

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

grab

1. second-person singular imperative of grabić

• grab in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• grab in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *grabrъ, from Proto-Indo-European *grābʰ-.

grab m inan (Cyrillic spelling граб)

1. hornbeam