Misgrab

//ˈmɪsɡɹæb// noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A failed attempt to grab something.

    "He hauls in the twenty yards of it in frantic haste, making many a misgrab and getting more excited, I'll warrant, than he ever was with any but his first bear."

  2. 2
    A mistake. figuratively

    "It is easy for the American visitor to make a “misgrab” here because, blinded by the surface similarities, he fails to take the hidden differences into consideration."

Verb
  1. 1
    To fail in an attempt to grab something

    "[…] misgrabbing or catching an apparatus or opponent"

Example

More examples

"He hauls in the twenty yards of it in frantic haste, making many a misgrab and getting more excited, I'll warrant, than he ever was with any but his first bear."

Etymology

From mis- + grab.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.