Etymology

nab

N1A1B3

Today it means: To seize, arrest or take into custody (a criminal or fugitive). Full definition →

Old Swedish nappa
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nab · verb1

  1. Old Swedish · derived fromnappa“to pluck, pinch”
  2. English todaynab

From dialectal nap (“to seize, lay hold of”), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Swedish nappa (“to pluck, pinch”). Related to Danish nappe (“to tweak, snatch at, catch, seize”), Swedish nappa (“to take, grab, pinch”), Norwegian Bokmål nappe (“to grab, snatch, pluck, yank”).

nab · noun2

Compare knap, knop, knob.

Words from the same roots

Old Swedishnappa all →

nap

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.