Grab Definition

grăb

grabbed, grabbing, grabs

verb

grabbed, grabbing, grabs

To snatch or try to snatch something.

Webster's New World

To get possession of by unscrupulous methods.

Webster's New World

To capture or restrain; arrest.

American Heritage

To get or take quickly.

To grab a bite to eat.

Webster's New World

To seize or snatch suddenly; take roughly and quickly.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

Antonyms:
let-go
release

noun

grabs

A sudden attempt to grasp or hold something.

Made a grab for the railing.

American Heritage

The act of grabbing.

Webster's New World

Something grabbed.

Webster's New World

A sudden, often unscrupulous taking control or ownership of something.

American Heritage

Any of various mechanical devices for clutching something to be hoisted.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

adjective

Relating or being an object or device that is grabbed or gripped for support or balance.

Installed a grab bar in the shower.

American Heritage

idiom

up for grabs

Available for anyone to take or win:

American Heritage

up for grabs

available to the highest bidder, most aggressive person, etc.

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Grab

Noun

Singular:

grab

Plural:

grabs

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Grab

Origin of Grab

From Middle Dutch grabben (“to grab”) or Middle Low German grabben (“to snap”), from Proto-Germanic *grab-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerebʰ- (compare Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇāti, “he seizes”), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇāti), Avestan (garəβ, “to seize”)). Cognate with Danish grabbe (“to grab”), Swedish grabba (“to grab”), Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”).

From Wiktionary
Obsolete Dutch or Low German grabben from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German ghrebh-¹ in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Arabic and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship.

From Wiktionary
Arabic ġurāb raven, swift galley ġrb in Semitic roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition