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Added 8 October 2026

grab

/ˈɡɹæb/ verb

In Latin: rapiō Wiktionary

verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about grab at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.
I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge.
To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).
The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.
To restrain someone; to arrest.

noun

A sudden snatch at something.
An acquisition by violent or unjust means.
A mechanical device that grabs or clutches. A device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.

noun

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

Origin

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”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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