grab
/ˈɡɹæb/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.52 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To take the opportunity of.
Example Sentences
- "I grabbed her hand to pull her back from the cliff edge."
- "Old Applegate, in the stern, just set and looked at me, and Lord James, amidship, waved both arms and kept hollering for help. I took a couple of everlasting big strokes and managed to grab hold of the skiff's rail, close to the stern."
- "The suspect suddenly broke free and grabbed at the policeman's gun."
- "Stop grabbing or I won't give you any cookies."
- "How does that idea grab you?"
- "Baby, instant soup doesn't really grab me Today I need something more substantial"
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”), Avestan 𐬔𐬭𐬀𐬠 (grab, “to seize”)), Macedonian грабне (grabne, “to snatch”), Bulgarian грабя (grabja, “to rob, to grab”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *gʰrebʰ-, grabben, gravan, *grabbōn, *grabōną, غُرَاب
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡɹæb/
- British English: /ˈɡɹæb/