From Middle English snacchen, snecchen, from Old English *snæċċan, *sneċċan, from Proto-West Germanic *snakkijan, from Proto-Germanic *snakkijaną, *snakkōną; see *snūtaz ("snout").

Cognate with Dutch snakken, Low German snacken, German schnacken, Norwegian snakke. Related to snack.

• IPA: /snæt͡ʃ/

snatch (snatches, present participle snatching; simple past and past participle snatched)

1. (transitive) To grasp and remove quickly.

   He snatched up the phone.

   She snatched the letter out of the secretary's hand.

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC ↗:

     Snatch me to heaven.

   • 1922 October 26, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Jacob's Room, Richmond, London: […] Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, →OCLC ↗; republished London: The Hogarth Press, 1960, →OCLC ↗:

     "How many times have I told you?" she cried, and seized him and snatched his stick away from him.

2. (intransitive) To attempt to seize something suddenly.

   Synonyms: grab

   to snatch at a rope

3. (transitive) 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. (transitive, informal) To steal.

   Synonyms: Thesaurus:steal

   Someone has just snatched my purse!

5. (transitive, informal, figurative, by extension) To take (a victory) at the last moment.
6. (transitive, informal) 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.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:

     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.

• French: empoigner, happer, saisir
• Italian: agguantare
• Portuguese: agarrar
• Russian: хвата́ть
• Spanish: agarrar

• French: arracher, enlever (brusquement)
• Russian: выхва́тывать
• Spanish: arrebatar, rebatar, arranchar

• French: s'emparer de, voler, piquer, arracher
• German: klauen, stehlen
• Italian: scippare
• Russian: стащи́ть
• Spanish: arrebatar

• French: arracher (la victoire)
• Italian: strappare

snatch (plural snatches)

1. A quick grab or catch.

   The leftfielder makes a nice snatch to end the inning.

2. A short period.
3. (weightlifting) 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.

5. (vulgar slang) The vulva. [from 18th c.]

   Synonyms: cunt, twat

6. (aviation) Rapid, uncommanded jerking or oscillation of the ailerons of some aircraft at high Mach numbers, resulting from shock wave formation at transonic speeds.
7. (dated) A brief period of exertion.
8. (dated) A catching of the voice.
9. (dated) A hasty snack; a bite to eat.
10. (dated) A quibble.

• French: arraché
• German: Reißen
• Russian: рыво́к
• Spanish: arrancada, arranque

• French: bribe

• Portuguese: buceta