snatch
verbnouncommon in dialogue
- //snæt͡ʃ//
To grasp and remove quickly.
verb
- 1
To grasp and remove quickly.
He snatched up the phone.
She snatched the letter out of the secretary's hand.
Snatch me to heaven.
"How many times have I told you?" she cried, and seized him and snatched his stick away from him.
- 2
To attempt to seize something suddenly.
to snatch at a rope
- 3
To take or seize hastily, abruptly, or without permission or ceremony.
to snatch a kiss
1731-1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays when half our knowledge we must snatch, not take
- 4
informalTo steal.
Someone has just snatched my purse!
Laura snatches coins from inside a truck to make a telephone call, scrounges shoes and clothes for them at a municipal beach, schemes to get a room key so she and Howie can sleep overnight in the Starlight Motel, steals a Jeepster from a deputy sheriff who's trying to arrest them.
- 5
figurativeTo take (a victory) at the last moment.
But, with United fans in celebratory mood as it appeared their team might snatch glory, they faced an anxious wait as City equalised in stoppage time.
- 6
informalTo do something quickly in the limited time available.
He snatched a sandwich before catching the train.
He snatched a glimpse of her while her mother had her back turned.
It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
No department of the Southern Railway escaped some share of the work involved, and the outdoor traffic and locomotive staffs in particular were engaged literally night and day, snatching a few hours' sleep as opportunity offered, until the task was completed.
Etymology
From Middle English snacchen, snecchen (“to snap; seize”), from Old English *snæċċan, *sneċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *snakkjan, from Proto-Germanic *snakjaną (“to whiff, sniff, catch wind of; to taste-test, nibble”), related to Proto-Germanic *snakōną (“to breathe, blow, sigh”) and *snakkōną (“to blather, jabber, chatter”). Cognate with Middle Dutch snacken (“to snap [of a dog]”), Norwegian Nynorsk snaka (“to snatch [of animals]”). Related also to Dutch snakken (“to sob, pant, long for”), Low German snacken (“to chatter”), German schnacken (“to chat”), Danish snakke (“to chat”) and Norwegian snakke (“to chat”). Related to snack.
noun
- 1
A quick grab or catch.
The leftfielder makes a nice snatch to end the inning.
And he […] glared on the cold pistols that hung before him—ready for anything. And he took down one with a snatch and weighed it in his hand, and fell to thinking again; […]
- 2
A short period.
At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches,
Frank looked at the screens dully. He had slept about three hours, in snatches.
- 3
A competitive weightlifting event in which a barbell is lifted from the platform to locked arms overhead in a smooth continuous movement.
- 4
A piece of some sound, usually music or conversation.
I heard a snatch of Mozart as I passed the open window.
But, purgatory as the place would appear, the stranger advances into it; and, like Orpheus in his gay descent to Tartarus, lightly hums to himself an opera snatch.
- 5
slangThe vulva.
Claude, is it true what they say about Olovia? Of course she’s getting a little old for us—what about Marilyum, did you try her snatch?
Roughly Santino ripped the sheet from the bed, exposing all of her. She had blond hair on her snatch, which drove him crazy. He was partial to blondes.
Dan: Hey, Ani, I found my keys! They were in my pocket. Ani: That's great, Dan! Of course, I've never lost mine. Dan: Really? Where do you keep yours? Ani: In my snatch!
“[…]You want me to ask Brandy to let you paint her naked body with all this gooey stuff to make a mold of her snatch?”
- 6
Rapid, uncommanded jerking or oscillation of the ailerons of some aircraft at high Mach numbers, resulting from shock wave formation at transonic speeds.
If, after the pilot notices the overspeed, he deploys the spoilers, or if aileron "snatch" rolls the airplane to an excessive bank angle, it may become impossible to recover.
- 7
datedA brief period of exertion.
- 8
datedA catching of the voice.
- 9
datedA hasty snack; a bite to eat.
- 10
datedA quibble.
Forms
- plural
- snatches
- past tense
- snatched
- past participle
- snatched
- present participle
- snatching
- third person singular
- snatches