Meanings
grab1
present singular third person grabs · participle present grabbing · participle past grabbed · past grabbed
- transitiveTo grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.
I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge.
1 more example
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.
1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC - intransitiveTo make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).
Stop grabbing or I won't give you any cookies.
1 more example
The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.
- informalTo quickly collect, retrieve, or take.
Come in and grab a seat [i.e. sit down].
3 more examples
"I'll just grab my jacket," said Manh-Hung.
1987, James Grady, Just a Shot Away, Bantam, page 117Hardly believing that Rafe actually planned to relax for a while, Kate nodded. "All right. Fine. I'll just go grab my purse."
1999, Jillian Dagg, Racing Hearts, Thomas Bouregy & Co., page 105He looked at Albert and Ben, and then back to Nurse Allen. "I'll just grab my gear and be right back."
2009, Mike Taylor, A Thousand Sleeps,, Tate Publishing, page 216 - To take the opportunity of.
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.
2012 May 19, Paul Fletcher, “Blackpool 1-2 West Ham”, in BBC Sport
plural grabs
- countableA sudden snatch at something.
He made a grab for me and I swung my handbag at him as hard as I could.
2003, J Davey, Six Years of Darkness, Trafford Publishing, page 661 more example
The ball popped in and popped out, and when he made a grab for it on the ground he kicked it with his foot.
1931 April, Harold M. Sherman, “The Baseball Clown”, in Boys' Life, volume 21, number 4, Boy Scouts of America, page 47 - countableAn acquisition by violent or unjust means.
- countableA mechanical device that grabs or clutches.
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.
1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 11- countableuncountableA device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.
- countablemediaA sound bite.
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.
2008, Melissa Agnew, Here is the (Australian) News - countableobsoleteuncountableThat which is seized.
- countableslanguncountablefirefightingThe rescue of a person from a burning structure.
There have been many rescues made as a result of an aggressive search team who went in without a hoseline to make the grab.
2022, Mark van der Feyst, Matt Wehrle, Rob Wiggins, The Tactical Firefighter - uncountableA simple card game.
grab2
plural grabs · alternative ghorab · alternative ghrab · alternative ghurab · alternative gurab
Grab3
Synonyms & antonyms
verbtake hold of so as to seize or restrain or stop the motion of
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
grab · verb, noun
- Proto-Indo-European*gʰrebʰ-“to gather, rake, grab, seize”
- Proto-Germanic*grabōną“to gather, rake”
- Proto-West Germanic*grabbōn
- Old Saxongravan
- Middle Low Germangrabben“to grasp, grab, seize, snatch”
- Middle Dutchgrabben
- Englishgrab
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 archaic German grappen (“to grab”), 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”).
More words from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, Old Saxon
Full word history & related roots →grab · noun
- Arabicغُرَاب
- Englishgrab
From Arabic غُرَاب (ḡurāb) and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship.
More words from Arabic
Full word history & related roots →Grab · noun
From Grab, a Singaporean company which provides taxi rides and food deliveries, and provides a system of electronic payments; the company name is from the word grab.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ἁρπάζω
- ἁρπάζω (harpázō)(transitive) to seize
Arabic مَسَكَ, قَبَضَ
- مَسَكَ (masaka)(transitive) to seize
- قَبَضَ (qabaḍa)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- مَسْك (mask)the act of grabbing something or someone
- قَبْض (qabḍ)the act of grabbing something or someone
Basque heldu
- heldu(transitive) to seize
Bengali ধরা
- ধরা (dhora)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Bulgarian хващам, улавям
- хващам (hvaštam)(transitive) to seize
- улавям (ulavjam)(transitive) to seize
- сграбчвам (sgrabčvam)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- арестувам (arestuvam)to restrain someone; to arrest
- задържам (zadăržam)to restrain someone; to arrest
- завладявам (zavladjavam)to grip the attention; to enthrall
- хващане (hvaštane)the act of grabbing something or someone
- сграбчване (sgrabčvane)the act of grabbing something or someone
- екскаватор (ekskavator)a mechanical device that grabs
Catalan agafar, agafament
- agafar(transitive) to seize
- agafamentthe act of grabbing something or someone
- agafadora mechanical device that grabs
Chinese Mandarin 抓住
- 抓住 (zhuāzhù)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Czech chytit, uchopit
- chytit(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- uchopit(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Danish gribe
- gribe(transitive) to seize
Dutch grijpen
- grijpen(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Esperanto preni, ekkapti
- preni(transitive) to seize
- ekkapti(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Finnish napata, siepata
- napata(transitive) to seize
- siepata(transitive) to seize
- tarttua(transitive) to seize
- tarttua(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- tarrata(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- pidättääto restrain someone; to arrest
- vangitato restrain someone; to arrest
- vangitato grip the attention; to enthrall
- tarttuminenthe act of grabbing something or someone
- kouraa mechanical device that grabs
French saisir, attraper
- saisir(transitive) to seize
- attraper(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- empoigner(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
German greifen, greifen
- greifen(transitive) to seize
- greifen(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- Greifera mechanical device that grabs
Hebrew תָּפַס
- תָּפַס (tafás)(transitive) to seize
Hungarian megragad, elragad
- megragad(transitive) to seize
- elragad(transitive) to seize
- megragadásthe act of grabbing something or someone
- megfogásthe act of grabbing something or someone
- markológépa mechanical device that grabs
Italian afferrare, cogliere
- afferrare(transitive) to seize
- cogliere(transitive) to seize
- agguantare(transitive) to seize
- afferrare(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- arraffare(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- agguantare(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- arrestareto restrain someone; to arrest
- trattenereto restrain someone; to arrest
- catturareto restrain someone; to arrest
- acchiappareto restrain someone; to arrest
- acciuffareto restrain someone; to arrest
- attirareto grip the attention; to enthrall
- presathe act of grabbing something or someone
- appigliothe act of grabbing something or someone
- accaparramentothe act of grabbing something or someone
- bennaa mechanical device that grabs
- ruspaa mechanical device that grabs
- calamitaa mechanical device that grabs
Japanese 掴む
- 掴む (tsukamu)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Latin rapiō, sumo
- rapiō(transitive) to seize
- sumo(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- capio(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- prehendo(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Latvian sagrābt
- sagrābt(transitive) to seize
Māori hiko, kapokapo
- hiko(transitive) to seize
- kapokapo(transitive) to seize
- kōwhakiwhaki(transitive) to seize
- nanao(transitive) to seize
- mamau(transitive) to seize
- apo(transitive) to seize
- aurara(transitive) to seize
- nao(transitive) to seize
- rarau(transitive) to seize
- mamau(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Norwegian Bokmål gripe, ta
- gripe(transitive) to seize
- ta(transitive) to seize
- ta tak i(transitive) to seize
Persian گرفتن
- گرفتن (gereftan)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Polish wyrywać, porywać
- wyrywać(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- porywać(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- chwytać(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- złapać(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- powstrzymaćto restrain someone; to arrest
- chwytaka mechanical device that grabs
Portuguese agarrar, pegar
- agarrar(transitive) to seize
- pegar(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- agarrar(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- prenderto restrain someone; to arrest
- deterto restrain someone; to arrest
- agarramentothe act of grabbing something or someone
- agarradora mechanical device that grabs
Romanian apuca
- apuca(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
Russian хвата́ть, схва́тывать
- хвата́ть (xvatátʹ)(transitive) to seize
- схва́тывать (sxvátyvatʹ)(transitive) to seize
- схвати́ть (sxvatítʹ)(transitive) to seize
- схва́тывать (sxvátyvatʹ)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- хвата́ть (xvatátʹ)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- схвати́ть (sxvatítʹ)(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- хвата́ть (xvatátʹ)to restrain someone; to arrest
- схвати́ть (sxvatítʹ)to restrain someone; to arrest
- арестова́ть (arestovátʹ)to restrain someone; to arrest
- захва́тыватьto grip the attention; to enthrall
- захва́т (zaxvát)the act of grabbing something or someone
- захва́т (zaxvát)a mechanical device that grabs
Spanish asir, agarrar
- asir(transitive) to seize
- agarrar(transitive) to seize
- apercollar(transitive) to seize
- apergollar(transitive) to seize
- coger(transitive) to seize
Swedish ta, gripa
- ta(transitive) to seize
- gripa(transitive) to seize
- grabba(transitive) to seize
- gripa(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- ta tag i(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- gripato restrain someone; to arrest
- arresterato restrain someone; to arrest
Tagalog kunin, kunin
- kunin(transitive) to seize
- kunin(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- arestuhinto restrain someone; to arrest
Thai คว้า
- คว้า (kwáa)(transitive) to seize
Turkish kapmak, yakalamak
- kapmak(transitive) to seize
- yakalamak(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- kabzetmek(intransitive) to make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something)
- yakalamakto restrain someone; to arrest
- ele geçirmekto restrain someone; to arrest
- tevkif etmekto restrain someone; to arrest
Ukrainian схо́плювати, схопи́ти
- схо́плювати (sxópljuvaty)(transitive) to seize
- схопи́ти (sxopýty)(transitive) to seize
- захва́т (zaxvát)the act of grabbing something or someone
- захо́плення (zaxóplennja)the act of grabbing something or someone
Vietnamese chộp lấy
- chộp lấy(transitive) to seize
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with grab
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
grab. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grab
“grab.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grab. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “grab,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/grab.
Source: grab on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.