Crossword Dictionary

GRAB

grab - v 
make a grasping or snatching motion with the hand; "The passenger grabbed for the oxygen mask" 
obtain illegally or unscrupulously; "Grab power" 
take or grasp suddenly; "She grabbed the child's hand and ran out of the room" 

wordplays

Synonyms

bag, capture, catch, collar, cop [slang], corral, get, glom, grapple, hook, land, nab, nail, net, nobble [British slang], rap, seize, snag, snap (up), snare, snatch, trap

merriam-webster

Examples

She retreated to her bedroom to grab her purse.

You were supposed to grab Gabe's mate, not Darkyn's.

A tea kettle was already whistling when they entered, and the maid rushed across the kitchen to grab it.

yourdictionary

Etymology

"seize forcibly or roughly," 1580s, from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German grabben "to grab," from Proto-Germanic *grab-, *grap- (source also of Old English græppian "to seize," Old Saxon garva, Old High German garba "sheaf," literally "that which is gathered up together"), from PIE *ghrebh- (1) "to seize, reach" (source also of Sanskrit grbhnati "seizes," Old Persian grab- "seize" as possession or prisoner, Old Church Slavonic grabiti "to seize, rob," Lithuanian grÄ—bti "to rake"). Sense of "to get by unscrupulous methods" was reinforced by grab game, a kind of swindle, attested from 1846. Related: Grabbed; grabbing.

etymonline