grab

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   capture the attention or imagination of

   This story will grab you

2. 2
   verb

   take or grasp suddenly

   They grabbed the child's hand and ran out of the room.

3. 3
   verb

   make a grasping or snatching motion with the hand

   The passenger grabbed for the oxygen mask

4. 4
   verb

   To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.

   I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge.

5. 5
   verb

   To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).

   The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun.

6. 6
   verb

   To grip the attention of; to enthrall or interest.

   How does that idea grab you?

7. 7
   verb

   To quickly collect, retrieve, or take.

   Come in and grab a seat [i.e. sit down].

8. 8
   verb

   To consume something quickly.

   We'll just grab a sandwich and then we'll be on our way.

Etymology

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”)…