grab

English Online Dictionary. What means grab‎? What does grab mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹæb/
• Rhymes: -æb

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch grabben (“to grab”) or Middle Low German grabben (“to snap”), from Old Dutch or Old Saxon gravan, from Proto-West Germanic *graban, from Proto-Germanic *grab-, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrebʰ-.

See also Sanskrit गृह्णाति (gṛhṇā́ti), गृभ्णाति (gṛbhṇā́ti, “he seizes”), Avestan 𐬔𐬭𐬀𐬠 (grab, “to seize”)). Cognate with Danish grabbe (“to grab”), Swedish grabba (“to grab”), Old English ġegræppian (“to seize”), Middle English grappen (“to feel with the hands; grope”), Macedonian грабне (grabne, “to snatch”), Bulgarian грабя (grabja, “to rob, to grab”).

Verb

grab (third-person singular simple present grabs, present participle grabbing, simple past and past participle grabbed)

1. (transitive) To grip suddenly; to seize; to clutch.
2. (intransitive) To make a sudden grasping or clutching motion (at something).

3. To restrain someone; to arrest.
4. (transitive) To grip the attention of; to enthrall or interest.
5. (informal) To quickly collect, retrieve, or take.
6. (informal) To consume something quickly.

7. To take the opportunity of.

Translations

Noun

grab (countable and uncountable, plural grabs)

1. (countable) A sudden snatch at something.
2. (countable) An acquisition by violent or unjust means.
3. (countable) A mechanical device that grabs or clutches.
   1. A device for withdrawing drills, etc., from artesian and other wells that are drilled, bored, or driven.
4. (countable, media) A sound bite.
5. (obsolete) That which is seized.
6. (uncountable) A simple card game.

Synonyms

• catch
• clutch
• grasp
• seize
• snatch

Translations

Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Arabic غُرَاب (ḡurāb) and Hindi ghurb?: crow, raven, a kind of Arab ship. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

grab (plural grabs)

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

Alternative forms

• ghorab, ghrab, ghurab, gurab

Further reading

• Henry Yule, A[rthur] C[oke] Burnell (1903) “GRAB”, in William Crooke, editor, Hobson-Jobson […] , London: John Murray, […], page 391.

Anagrams

• ARGB, brag, garb

Lower Sorbian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *grabrъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɡrap]

Noun

grab m inan

1. hornbeam (tree of genus Carpinus)

Declension

Further reading

• Muka, Arnošt (1921, 1928) “grab”, in Słownik dolnoserbskeje rěcy a jeje narěcow (in German), St. Petersburg, Prague: ОРЯС РАН, ČAVU; Reprinted Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, 2008
• Starosta, Manfred (1999) “grab”, in Dolnoserbsko-nimski słownik / Niedersorbisch-deutsches Wörterbuch (in German), Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag

Old High German

Alternative forms

• grap

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *grab, from Proto-Germanic *grabą, *grabō (“grave, trench, ditch”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰrābʰ- (“to dig, scratch, scrape”).

Compare Old Saxon graf (Low German Graf, Graff), Dutch graf, Old English græf (English grave), Old Frisian gref (West Frisian grêf), Old Norse grǫf (Danish grav, Icelandic gröf), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰 (graba).

Noun

grab n

1. grave
2. tomb

Descendants

• Middle High German: grap
  • Central Franconian: Grav, Jrav

    Hunsrik: Graab

    Luxembourgish: Graf

  • Bavarian:

    Cimbrian: grap

  • East Central German:

    Vilamovian: graob, grob

  • East Franconian:
  • German: Grab
  • Rhine Franconian: Grab

    Frankfurterisch: [krɑːp], (plural) [kʀεːvæ̆]

  • Yiddish: גרוב (grub)

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡrap/
• Rhymes: -ap
• Syllabification: grab
• Homophones: Grab, grap

Etymology 1

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *grabrъ.

Noun

grab m inan (related adjective grabowy)

1. hornbeam (any tree of the genus Carpinus)

Declension

Derived terms

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

grab f

1. genitive plural of graba

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

grab

1. second-person singular imperative of grabić

Further reading

• grab in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• grab in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *grabrъ, from Proto-Indo-European *grābʰ-.

Noun

grab m (Cyrillic spelling граб)

1. hornbeam

Declension