make a grab

make a grab (third-person singular simple present makes a grab, present participle making a grab, simple past and past participle made a grab or (dialectal or obsolete) maked a grab) [(usually) with for]

1. (idiomatic) To try to take quickly.
2. (figurative) To try to get in control quickly.

• Colin McIntosh, editor (2013), “make a grab, col.”, in Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 4th edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, retrieved 28 January 2026, reproduced in the Cambridge English Dictionary website, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• “make a grab for, id.”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.