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nab

/næb/

/næb/

Other forms: nabbed; nabbing; nabs

When you nab someone, you catch the person in the act of doing something wrong. A police officer, for example, might say that she loves to nab shoplifters.

You nab when you apprehend a bad guy, or when you suddenly grab something: "Hey, you can't just nab a slice of pizza off my plate!" It's most common to use nab when a criminal is caught, as when the FBI nabs a suspected terrorist or an officer nabs a would-be graffiti artist. Nab probably came from an earlier word, nap, "to seize or catch," which is now obsolete except in the word kidnap.

Definitions of nab
  1. verb
    take into custody
    “the police nabbed the suspected criminals”
    synonyms: apprehend, arrest, collar, cop, nail, pick up
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    type of:
    clutch, prehend, seize
    take hold of; grab
  2. verb
    seize suddenly
    see moresee less
    type of:
    clutch, prehend, seize
    take hold of; grab
  3. verb
    tag the base runner to get him out
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    type of:
    tag
    touch a player while he is holding the ball
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘nab'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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