snatchverb/snæt͡ʃ/

• 1

  To grasp and remove quickly.

  • He snatched up the phone.
  • She snatched the letter out of the secretary's hand.
• 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

  informalTo 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.

snatchnoun/snæt͡ʃ/

• 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

  hobbieslifestylesportsA 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

  vulgarslangThe 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.
• 6

  aeronauticsaerospaceaviationRapid, 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.