Talk:take a grab

Past tense
Past tense should be added. 71.66.97.228 04:59, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Earliest usage
Earliest example of usage should be added. 71.66.97.228 04:59, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

take a grab
Sense: to attempt to snatch or seize. The other Oz-rules football sense may be idiomatic.

Take can be followed by many, many objective complements. This one doesn't seem especially idiomatic.

If, against all that is good and holy, the community decides this is an idiom, the sense given requires a following prepositional phrase headed by "at", I think, based on my review of the cites provided and others and my general experience of mostly US English. DCDuring TALK 16:15, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * The entry says it means to attempt a grab. Delete. But I'm not seeing an "attempt" sense at [[take]]. (Am I missing it?) Other usexes for it can be "take a swipe" and, maybe, "take a stab". And I'm not sure "attempt" is the best definition. &#x200b;—msh210℠ (talk) 17:31, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm the page creator. I used the definition to "attempt to snatch or seize" because it seemed to me that if I were "take a grab" at something, it wouldn't make a difference whether or not I actually seized the object at which I took the grab. i.e. in the quotation, "Even in his gallop he would occasionally take a grab at the point of Russell's foot," the horse never actually manages to reach the Russell's foot. That was my interpretation, anyway. Ackatsis 04:12, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty confident that the Australian Rules sense is idiomatic. As for the other definition, I originally created it by analogy with "take a stab" (to attempt or try), which is retained even though "stab" has a sense meaning "an attempt." I'll leave the decision up to the community, anyway. Ackatsis 04:12, 25 July 2010 (UTC)


 * I lean towards deleting this. - -sche (discuss) 02:05, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * No OneLook reference has this. I think the idea of "attempt" or "failed attempt" may not be part of "take a grab" but rather the head of the following PP. "A grab of " something implies success. "A grab at " something implies an attempt, probably failed unless following test says otherwise. "Hold" is usually complemented by "of", "stab" by "at"; "grab" accepts both. DCDuring TALK 02:52, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
 * 3 out of 4 of the cites involve "at"; following context makes it clear that all three are failed attempts. One has no following PP, but the following text says that it was a successful attempt. DCDuring TALK 03:07, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

deleted, replaced with -- Liliana • 06:32, 23 July 2011 (UTC)