1839. Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 39. Don’t muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. You’ll need all your strength to grab him.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 396. I was grabbed for an attempt on a gentleman’s pocket.
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 236. I watched a movement, till one of the servant girls had brought another load of grub out, and as she turned her back and went into the house I grabbed the key, and so they couldn’t lock it nohow.
1886. Baring Gould, Golden Feather, p. 23 (S.P.C.K.). There are some folks … so grasping that if they touch a farthing will grab a pound.
2. (thieves’).—To hold on; to get along; to live.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, iii., 149. I do manage to grab on somehow.
Grab-all, subs. (colloquial).—1. An avaricious person; a greedy-guts (q.v.).
1872. Sunday Times, 18 Aug. This gentleman, it is well known, has worked with indomitable energy on behalf of the millions, and has succeeded in wresting from the mean and contemptible grab-alls of that government which professes to study the people’s interest those portions of the Embankment which the public money has paid for.
2. (colloquial).—A bag to carry odds and ends, parcels, books, and so forth.
Grabber, subs. (common).—In. pl., the hands. For synonyms, see Daddle and Mauley.