snatch

present singular third person snatches · participle present snatching · participle past snatched · past snatched

1. transitiveTo grasp and remove quickly.

   He snatched up the phone.

   3 more examples

   She snatched the letter out of the secretary's hand.

   Snatch me to heaven.

   a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC

   "How many times have I told you?" she cried, and seized him and snatched his stick away from him.

   1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob’s Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC

2. intransitiveTo attempt to seize something suddenly.

   to snatch at a rope

   Synonyms: grab

3. transitiveTo take or seize hastily, abruptly, or without permission or ceremony.

   to snatch a kiss

   1 more example

   1731-1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays when half our knowledge we must snatch, not take

4. informaltransitiveTo steal.

   Someone has just snatched my purse!

   1 more example

   Laura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.

   1987 November 8, Ron Hansen, “CHILDREN'S BOOKS; DISCOVERING THE OPPOSITE SEX”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: steal, abduct, abstract, appropriate, bag, bandit, bash and grab, bone

5. broadlyfigurativelyinformaltransitiveTo take (a victory) at the last moment.

   But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time.

   2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

6. informaltransitiveTo do something quickly in the limited time available.

   He snatched a sandwich before catching the train.

   5 more examples

   He snatched a glimpse of her while her mother had her back turned.

   It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   No department of the Southern Railway escaped some share of the work involved, and the outdoor traffic and locomotive staffs in particular were engaged literally night and day, snatching a few hours' sleep as opportunity offered, until the task was completed.

   1940 July, “Notes and News: A Magnificent Transport Achievement”, in Railway Magazine, page 419

   You might now reason that even a 12-minute walk to the store to buy a can of beans is too great an expenditure of time, and that the fee paid for one-hour delivery is a fair price to snatch those minutes back into your life.

   2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian

   In 1914, the Hendon and Finchley Times published a piece titled 'People who have no Christmas'. An engine-driver's comment was this: "For many years now I have never enjoyed a real Christmas. My engine has claimed me on this day, and my only regret is that I am not attached to a slow goods train, so that I could snatch time to eat some plum-pudding."

   2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35

plural snatches

1. A quick grab or catch.

   The leftfielder makes a nice snatch to end the inning.

   1 more example

   And he […] glared on the cold pistols that hung before him—ready for anything. And he took down one with a snatch and weighed it in his hand, and fell to thinking again; […]

   1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard

2. A short period.

   At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches,

   1927 August, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “[Ariel Poems.] Journey of the Magi.”, in Collected Poems 1909–1935, London: Faber & Faber […], published September 1954, →OCLC, page 107

   1 more example

   Frank looked at the screens dully. He had slept about three hours, in snatches.

   2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, chapter 1, in The Ministry for the Future, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN

3. hobbiesA competitive weightlifting event in which a barbell is lifted from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement.
4. A piece of some sound, usually music or conversation.

   I heard a snatch of Mozart as I passed the open window.

   1 more example

   But, purgatory as the place would appear, the stranger advances into it; and, like Orpheus in his gay descent to Tartarus, lightly hums to himself an opera snatch.

   1857, Herman Melville, chapter XV, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade

5. slangvulgarThe vulva.First known use 18th c.

   “[…]You want me to ask Brandy to let you paint her naked body with all this gooey stuff to make a mold of her snatch?”

   2008, Jim Craig, North to Disaster, Bushak Press, →ISBN, page 178

   3 more examples

   Claude, is it true what they say about Olovia? Of course she’s getting a little old for us—what about Marilyum, did you try her snatch?

   1962, Douglas Woolf, Wall to Wall, Grove Press, page 83

   Roughly Santino ripped the sheet from the bed, exposing all of her. She had blond hair on her snatch, which drove him crazy. He was partial to blondes.

   1985, Jackie Collins, Lucky, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 150

   Dan: Hey, Ani, I found my keys! They were in my pocket. Ani: That's great, Dan! Of course, I've never lost mine. Dan: Really? Where do you keep yours? Ani: In my snatch!

   2004 July 11, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic

   Synonyms: cunt, twat

6. aeronauticsRapid, uncommanded jerking or oscillation of the ailerons of some aircraft at high Mach numbers, resulting from shock wave formation at transonic speeds.

   If, after the pilot notices the overspeed, he deploys the spoilers, or if aileron "snatch" rolls the airplane to an excessive bank angle, it may become impossible to recover.

   1982, National Transportation Safety Board, quoting Federal Aviation Administration, Learjet Special Certification Review interim report, 1981, quoted in Aircraft Accident Report: Sky Train Air, Inc., Gates Learjet 24, N44CJ, Felt, Oklahoma, October 1, 1981, archived from the original 21 February 2021, retrieved 20 Feb 2021, page 17

7. datedA brief period of exertion.
8. datedA catching of the voice.
9. datedA hasty snack; a bite to eat.
10. datedA quibble.