snatch

A quick grab or catch.

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; […] - 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the...
  2. A short period.
    • At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, - 1927 August, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “[Ariel Poems.] Journey of the Magi.”, in Collected Poems 1909–1935, London: Faber & Faber […], published...
    • Frank looked at the screens dully. He had slept about three hours, in snatches. - 2020, Kim Stanley Robinson, chapter 1, in The Ministry for the Future, Little, Brown Book Group, →ISBN:
  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. - 1857, Herman Melville, chapter XV, in The...
  5. The 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? - 1962, Douglas Woolf, Wall to Wall, Grove Press, page 83:
    • 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. - 1985, Jackie Collins, Lucky, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 150:
    • 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! - 2004 July 11, Bayard Russell, nonemorecomic:

    Synonyms: cunt twat

  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. - 1982, National Transportation Safety...
  7. A brief period of exertion.
  8. A catching of the voice.
  9. A hasty snack; a bite to eat.
  10. A quibble.

Origin

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.

Forms

snatches

Derived

snatch block snatchless snatch loading snatch squad

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. - a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:
  2. To attempt to seize something suddenly.
    • to snatch at a rope

    Synonyms: grab

  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. To 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...

    Synonyms: steal abduct abstract appropriate bag bandit bash and grab bone boost burgle burglarize borrow cheat chore commandeer confiscate convert cop cozen crib embezzle filch fleece flog

  5. To 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. - 2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC...
  6. To 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...

Forms

snatches snatching snatched

Derived

baby snatching cap snatching chain-snatch cradle-snatch foresnatch have one's wig snatched outsnatch purse snatcher resnatch snatchable snatch and grab snatch and run snatchback snatch defeat from the jaws of victory snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory snatcher snatchproof snatch someone's edges snatch the pebble snatch victory from the jaws of defeat snatchy unsnatch upsnatch