▪ I. grab, n.1 Anglo-Indian.
(græb)
Also 7 grob, 8 grabb, gurab, 9 ghurab.
[a. Arab. γurāb, lit. ‘raven’, applied to a kind of galley.]
A large coasting-vessel, drawing very little water, built with a prow and usually two-masted, used in the East (see quots. 1763, 1839).
| 1680 Morden Geog. Rect. (1685) 405 The desperate attacks made..by 1500 of his men in three Ships and four Grabs. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 174 Admiral of his Fleet of Grobs and Boats. 1763 R. Orme Hist. Milit. Trans. Ind. I. 401 The grabs have rarely more than two masts, although some have three;..they are built to draw very little water, being very broad in proportion to their length, narrowing however from the middle to the end, where instead of bows they have a prow. 1773 E. Ives Voy. 43 One Grab of 18 guns, and several other vessels. 1824 Heber Jrnl. (1828) I. i. 11 Their grabs, which still have an elongated bow..are often very fine vessels. 1839 H. Malcom Trav. S.E. Asia II. 357 Gloss., Grab, a square-rigged Arab coasting vessel, having a very projecting stem, and no bowsprit. It has two masts. 1878 E. J. Trelawny Shelley, etc. (1887) 84 A Persian dhow, an Arab grab, or a Chinese junk. |
b. Comb., as
grab-brig,
grab-ketch,
grab-snow,
grab-vessel;
grab-service (see
quot. 1867).
| 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adv. Younger Son I. 177 De Ruyter now took me on board of an Arab *grab brig. |
| 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. II. 40 His fleet..consisted of eight *grab-ketches [etc.]. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Grab service, country vessels first employed by the Bombay government against the pirates; afterwards erected into the Bombay Marine. |
| 1806 Naval Chron. XV. 470 The *Grab Snow Generous Friends,..burthen about two hundred tons. |
| 1800 Asiatic Ann. Reg., Chron. 22/2 They perceived a *grab vessel at anchor. |
▪ II. grab, n.2 (
græb)
[f. grab v.] 1. a. A quick sudden clutch, grasp, seizure, or attempt to seize.
| 1824 De Quincey Incognito Wks. XI. 3 The chairman, unable to control his impatience, made a grab at it. 1835 Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. viii, He makes a grab at me, and I shuts the door right to on his wrist. 1839 Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. II. 111, I rose gently with both hands ready for a grab. |
b. The action or practice of grabbing.
game of grab (?
cf. sense 5 and
grab game in 6),
policy of grab: in recent journalistic use often applied opprobriously to rapacious proceedings in political or commercial affairs.
up for grabs: open to offer; easily obtainable (
slang (chiefly
U.S.)).
| 1883 Ld. Wemyss in St. James's Gaz. 16 July, They..are playing a game of ‘grab’ for the farmer's vote. 1884 Pall Mall G. 13 Sept. 3/1 The fatal inauguration of the policy of grab by Lord Beaconsfield in 1878. 1888 Daily News 12 Dec. 4/8 Part of a policy called by fine people annexation and by common people grab. 1893 Besant Ivory Gate 236 The selfishness of mankind as illustrated by the universal game of Grab. 1897 Westm. Gaz. 24 Nov. 1/3 The newly invented game of ‘grab’ in Africa. 1945 L. Shelly Jive Talk Dict. 35 Up for grabs, easy to make gal. 1954 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang (ed. 2) §356/7 Up for grabs, easy to pick up. 1967 Boston Globe 5 Apr. 51/5 Right now every position is up for grabs. Every player is going to get a shot. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 3 Feb. B3/3 At the time that General Bakeries made its bid, Mr. Conrad said the Ogilvie companies appeared to be ‘up for grabs’. 1971 Financial Mail (Johannesburg) 26 Feb. 675/2 So the hotel reservations set-up looks up for grabs. |
2. The thing grabbed.
Sc.| 1777 Sir M. Hunter Jrnl. (1894) 27 Grab was a favourite expression among the Light Infantry, and meant any plunder taken by force. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Grabs, little prizes. 1825–80 Jamieson, Grab,..the number of objects thus seized. |
3. One who grabs:
a. A body-snatcher, resurrectionist;
b. A catchpoll, bumbailiff, policeman. ?
Obs.| 1823 Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1824) 178 When bailiffs and grabs hunt us up in the East. 1830 S. Warren Diary Physic. I. xvi. 370 Sir ―'s dressers and myself, with an experienced ‘grab’, that is to say, a professional resurrectionist—were to set off from the Borough. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Leg. xv. 123 Do you want to..have the grabs point at us as swindlers? 1919 B. Booth in H. Begbie Life Wm. Booth (1920) ii. 24 My father was a Grab, a Get. 1958 Amer. Speech XXXIII. 225 Less frequently used among nonmusicians..are..shamus, fuzz, grab (all meaning policeman). |
4. A mechanical device or implement for clutching or gripping objects (see
quots.).
| 1865 A. M. Eaton Diary 14 Oct. in West. Pennsylvania Hist. Mag. (1935) XVIII. 205 We saw a ‘grab’ an instrument designed to get out tools stuck in any well. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Grab,..the term is especially applied to devices for withdrawing pipes, drills, reamers, etc., from artesian, oil, and other wells. 1881 Proc. Instit. Civil Engin. LXV. 312 A modification of the bucket [dredger]..with strong curved steel arms..to which the makers have given the name of ‘grab’. 1881 Standard 16 Nov. 2/5 The accident was caused by the plate having slipped from the ‘grab’ by which it was being lifted. 1893 Times 10 July 13/6 Grain cargoes..discharged..by the use of hydraulic cranes and tubs or Priestman's grabs. 1897 Daily News 10 Sept. 8/5 Hydraulic cranes drop down their ‘grabs’ into the loose grain in the hold of the vessel like a huge pair of jaws. They come up the next instant with a mouthful of about three-quarters of a ton, and spit it out into a hopper. 1955 Times 19 May 7/6 Cranes and mechanical grabs heave up loads of what the council call ‘reluctant London clay’. |
5. a. A children's game at cards, in which when two or more cards of equal value are on the table together the player who is quickest to recognize and ‘grab’ them adds them to his own hand.
Cf. also
animal C. 1.
| 1900 in N.E.D. 1941 H. G. Wells You can't be too Careful ii. i. 46 They had a pack of real cards..and gambled with them at Beat your Neighbour out of doors and Grab. |
b. Chess. Applied to a particular class of problems: in full
grab theme. (See
quot. 1913.)
| 1909 A. C. White Knights & Bishops p. iii. 1913 ― Sam Loyd 357 The Grab Theme... The theme includes, in its broadest sense, all problems where a Black piece is captured on two or more squares... In its narrower sense it is limited to the problems where a particular Black piece is captured on two or more squares by a single White piece or by two White pieces of the same kind. Ibid. 359 The Grab by the concerted action of the two White Knights is extremely pretty. 1943 B. Harley Mate in Three Moves 52 The grab theme..is essentially a brutal and monotonous business. 1963 M. Lipton et al. Chess Probl. 259 A doubling of the grab theme, in which a black unit is captured on a number of different squares, leading to zugzwang. |
6. attrib. and
Comb., chiefly in the names of various appliances for seizing or clutching, as
grab-crane,
grab-digger,
grab dredger,
grab-iron,
grab-line,
grab-machine; also
grab-bag (
U.S. at fancy fairs), a bag containing various articles, into which one may dip on payment of a certain sum; also
fig.;
grab bar, a bar fitted as a handhold,
esp. one grasped for stabilization or support;
grab bucket = bucket n.1 3 b;
grab-coup = grab-game (a);
grab-game, (
a) (see
quot. 1859); (
b) the policy of ‘grabbing’ territories, etc.;
grab handle, a handle fitted in a motor car to assist passengers entering or alighting, or to steady them when the car is moving;
grab-hook, any hook for grabbing,
spec. (see
quot. 1887);
pl. (
Naut. slang) fingers;
grab-racket U.S., a disorderly scramble, in which each person ‘grabs’ what he can;
grab rail,
strap, a rail or strap inside a motor vehicle for standing passengers to hold.
| 1855 M. M. Thomson Doesticks xvi. 135 [A] young woman wanted me to invest in the ‘*grab bag’; [I] gave half a dollar, and fished in. 1879 N.Y. Tribune 23 Sept. (Cent.), It is a grab-bag from which every disappointed politician hopes to draw a prize. 1886 Harper's Mag. Jan. 237 The woodman's axe now resounded with the busy notes of preparation for a dive into nature's great grab-bag. 1960 20th Cent. May 460 Sociology is the great intellectual grab-bag of our times. 1967 Canadian Ann. Rev. 1966 6 It met strong resistance from those who supported the traditional formula of a grab-bag of promises. 1967 C. O. Skinner Madame Sarah xii. 269 Sarah would hold out a grab bag from which each child drew a number. |
| 1959 Home Safety Rev. Winter 21/2 Install *grab bars next to bathtub and in showers. 1967 Gloss. Caravan Terms (B.S.I.) 2 Grab bars, grab handles, bars or handles fitted to the outside of the bodywork to assist in manhandling the caravan. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 10/2 (Advt.), Bathroom safety aids..grab bars and safety rails. 1985 New Age Winter 22/2 Corridors, passages and bathrooms should have hand-rails; and one or two ‘grab bars’ might be worth considering for the bedroom. |
| 1885 Marine Engin. 1 Aug. 139/2 (heading) Recent applications for patents..7333 C. W. Hunt. Dredging or *grab buckets. |
| 1823 ‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf, *Grab-coup, modern practice of gambling, adopted by the losers, thus the person cheated or done, takes his opportunity, makes a dash at the depository of money, or such as may be down for the play and grabs as much as possible, pockets the proceeds, and fights his way out of the house. |
| 1895 Daily News 15 Apr. 8/2, [For sale by auction,] 30 steam, hand, and *grab cranes. |
| 1936 Oxoniensia I. 81 Without their ready co-operation and their keenness to save everything possible from the very teeth of their ‘*grab’-digger, we should not have been able to record and preserve such a wealth of detail in advance of the gravel-digging. |
| 1909 Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) II. xiii. 224 In hard ground it would be necessary to loosen the earth..or dig a hole with a *grab dredger. |
| 1846 R. B. Sage Scenes Rocky Mts. xxxii. 282 Provided you won't attempt the *grab game on us. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Grab Game, a mode of swindling or rather stealing, practised by sharpers..Bets are made..when a dispute is purposely planned, in the midst of which one of the confederates seizes or ‘grabs’ the money at stake and runs off. The term is also used in a more general sense to signify stealing and making off with the booty. 1864 R. B. Kimball Was he successful ix. 116 A bold, daring, unscrupulous man, who, in the language of his acquaintances, practised the grab-game. 1895 Forum (N.Y.) May 265 This eventuated in preventing the grab-game of France. |
| 1959 Observer 1 Mar. 21/6 The..walnut screen rail with *grab handle. 1961 Times 28 Mar. 4/6 Large ‘grab’ handles of a flexible material fitted to the roof above each of the four doors are useful when passengers are entering or leaving. 1970 Motoring Which? Apr. 50/1 Armrests were only fair, but the passenger had a good grab handle. |
| 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 713 Taking up their Nets, at one place they did hang so fast, as without breaking they could not pull them out of the water, wherefore they set their *Grab-hooks unto them to loose them. 1887 Jefferies Field & Hedgerow (1889) 179 The grapnel kept at every village draw-well is called the grab-hook. 1889 Cent. Dict., Grab-hook, in angling, a hook made by fixing four large fish-hooks in a piece of lead. 1905 Terms Forestry & Logging 38 Grab hook, a hook having a narrow throat, adapted to grasp any link of a chain. 1946 J. Irving Royal Navalese 86 Grabhooks, fingers. |
| 1887 Pall Mall G. 22 Sept. 11/1 Priestman's *grab machine is now set to work to excavate the earth from the centre of the caisson. |
| 1892 Stevenson & Osbourne Wrecker (ed. 2) 219 Now boss!..is this to be run shipshape? or is it a Dutch *grab-racket? |
| 1955 E. K. Wenlock Kitchin's Road Transport Law (ed. 10) 94 A clear height of 5 ft 10 in excluding any *grab rail or strap shall extend over all space intended for use by standing passengers. 1963 Times 21 May 5/6 Sensible points include a padded grab⁓rail. |
▪ III. grab, v. (
græb)
[Corresponds to MDu., MLG. grabben, mod.Sw. grabba; perh. an onomatopœic modification of the root of grip.] 1. trans. To grasp or seize suddenly and eagerly; hence, to appropriate to oneself in a rapacious or unscrupulous manner. Phr.
to grab hold of (
cf. hold n.1 2).
| 1589 Rider Eng.-Lat. Dict., To Grabbe, or grabble, vide to graple. 1801 A. Wilson Poems & Lit. Prose (1876) I. 86 Old..witches..butter from churns are eternally grabbing. 1820 J. W. Croker in Smiles J. Murray (1891) II. xxiii. 86, I will go to the Museum and grab them, as my betters have done before me. 1873 G. C. Davies Mount. & Mere xviii. 164 He grabbed it hard and fast. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic cvii, How did it happen that gross Humbug grabbed Thy weapons? 1881 Macm. Mag. XLV. 39 Little dark-brown creatures..armed each with four needle-like talons, ready to grab cruelly the hand put within reach. 1888 Times (weekly ed.) 21 Dec. 16/3 You had done what is called ‘grab’ that land. 1894 Forum (N.Y.) Dec. 401 John Bull is not habitually slow to run up his flag on any available spot he may safely grab. 1894 A. Conan Doyle Mem. Sherlock Holmes 123 The fellows evidently grabbed hold of anything they could get. 1900 Bayly & Briscoe Chrons. Country Cricket Club (1908) x. 111, I was walking outside the cricket grounds and you grabbed hold of me. |
| absol. 1841 Emerson Lect., Man the Reformer Wks. (Bohn) II. 243 To have somewhat left to give, instead of being always prompt to grab. |
2. a. To ‘collar’, capture, or arrest (a person).
| 1800 Sporting Mag. XVI. 26 Agreed to grab about a dozen old acquaintances. 1811 Lex. Balatronicum s.v., The pigs grabbed the kiddey for a crack. 1829 Ann. Reg. 117 He is sure Benning did not grab, or endeavour to collar Wickliffe. 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg., Bros. Birchington, My bailiff grabb'd Dick when he should have nabb'd Bob. 1894 H. Nisbet Bush Girl's Rom. 115 A very dangerous young criminal..whom I reckon we won't be able to grab in a hurry. |
b. To arrest the attention of (a person); to make an impression on.
slang.| 1966 Gramophone Popular Record Catal. (Artist Section) Dec. 190/2 Sinatra, Nancy... How Does That Grab You? Not the lovin' kind; Shadow of your smile;..How does that grab you darlin'?; Bang, bang. 1968 Canadian Mag. 15 June 27/2 D'you think that will grab them? 1970 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 18 Sept. 46/4, I suppose, as my daughter puts it, ‘life is whatever grabs you’. 1971 Post (Cape ed.) 9 May 9/5 Elton John is big but if his music doesn't grab you then it just doesn't grab you. |
3. a. intr. To make a grab or snatch
at (
U.S. for).
| 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xii. 107 A stick of candy, which he eagerly grabbed at. 1867 Trollope Chron. Barset I. xxxvii. 325 She stretched out her hand to grab at the ledger. 1885 N.Y. Weekly Sun 13 May 5/1 He made a jump for the knife and Short grabs for it at the same time. |
b. Of the brakes of a motor vehicle: to act harshly or jerkily.
| 1919 Fraser & Jones Motor Vehicles xxxi. 328 If the brakes grab or screech a few drops of castor oil..may stop the trouble. 1962 Which? (Suppl.) July 90/1 The brakes ‘grabbed’ very badly, because the friction pad assemblies on the front wheels had moved in the caliper units. |
4. slang. to grab on: to get along, live.
| 1861 Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 139 Between the two I do manage to grab on somehow. |
5. Comb.:
grab-all, (
a) one who grabs everything, a rapacious person; (
b) a bag to carry odds and ends (Farmer
Slang 1893).
| 1872 Sunday Times 18 Aug. 2/3 The mean and contemptible grab-alls of that government which professes to study the people's interest. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss Hags xxiii. 163 Robert Grier of Lag, who was a very grab-all among them. |
Hence
grabbed ppl. a.,
ˈgrabbing vbl. n.| 1788 W. Eden in G. Rose's Diaries (1860) I. 74 There remained merely the finding and grabbing some respectable office for life. 1891 Star 5 Nov. 4/1 The grabbed rights of way mentioned recently. 1895 Daily News 25 Oct. 6/3 The Chitral principality is now within the English sphere, to borrow a term which international diplomacy owes to the grabbing-up of Africa. 1919 Fraser & Jones Motor Vehicles xxii. 235 Cone clutches are usually faced with leather..the leather becomes hard and dry resulting in ‘grabbing’. 1959 Motor Man. (ed. 36) iv. 71 Quite elaborate springing arrangements may be built into the clutch disc to avoid ‘grabbing’ when the friction surfaces are just on the point of gripping. |