grab

Meanings

Verb

• To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.
• To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).
• To restrain someone; to arrest.
• To grip the attention of; to enthrall or interest.
• To quickly collect or retrieve.
• To consume something quickly.
• To take the opportunity of.

Noun

• A sudden snatch at something.
• An acquisition by violent or unjust means.
• A mechanical device that grabs or clutches.
• A sound bite.
• That which is seized.
• A simple card game.
• A two- or three-masted vessel used on the Malabar coast.

Related

Similar words

• catch
• clutch
• grasp
• seize
• snatch

Origin

• From Middle Dutch grabben ("to grab") or Middle Low German grabben, from Proto-Germanic *grabaną, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ- (compare Sanskrit गृह्णाति, गृभ्णाति, Avestan 𐬔𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬡 ("to seize")). Cognate with Danish grabbe ("to grab"), Swedish grabba ("to grab"), Old English ġegræppian ("to seize"), Middle English grappen, Macedonian грабне ("to snatch"), Bulgarian грабвам ("to snatch").
• Arabic and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship.