Etymologically
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grab

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ɡræb/[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle Dutch grabben (“to grab”) or grabben,[2][3][4] from Germanic *grab-, *grap-,[3] cognate with Old English grǣppian “to seize”, Low German grapsen and German grapschen “to snatch”.[2][5] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ghrebh- (“to seize, reach”),[3][2] also seen in Sanskrit gṛbhṇāti “seizes”, Old Church Slavonic grabiti “to rob” and Lithuanian grėbti “to rake”.[3][2] It is related to grasp and grip, and the frequentative form gave grabble.[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

To seize suddenly or snatch: 1589 in the OED and Barnhart,[6][2] the 1580s in Etymonline.[3]

Semantic evolution

To arrest or capture a person is from 1800.[6] The sense “to get by unscrupulous means” was reinforced by grab game, a kind of swindle, from 1846.[3] The noun, the thing grabbed, is Scots from 1777, and a sudden grasp or attempt to seize from 1824, in De Quincey.[6][2][3] A mechanical device for gripping things is from 1865.[6] To catch someone's attention, as in how does that grab you?, is a later informal sense.[7][8] Grabby, greedy, is from 1910,[2] and up for grabs from 1945, in jive talk.[3]

Timeline

  • 1589 – to snatch.[6][2]
  • 1777 – noun, the thing grabbed.[6]
  • 1800 – to arrest.[6]
  • 1824 – noun, a sudden grasp.[2][6]
  • 1846 – grab game.[3]
  • 1865 – a gripping device.[6]
  • 1945 – up for grabs.[3]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To take hold of suddenly or roughly; to snatch.
  2. To take or get something quickly or unfairly.
  3. To take quickly when there is a chance: grab a sandwich.
  4. (informal) To capture someone's attention or interest.

Noun

  1. A sudden attempt to take hold of something.
  2. A mechanical device for gripping and lifting things.

Word family

  • grabber
  • grabbable
  • grabby
  • landgrab
  • regrab
  • grabble
  • grab bag
  • grasp
  • grip
  • grope

Usage notes

A different word grab, a two-masted coasting vessel of the Malabar coast (1680), is from Arabic ghurāb “raven”.[6][5]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins