/ · 1894 Brewer’s · N · Nab
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To seize without warning. A contraction of apprehend. (Norwegian, nappe, to catch at, nap, snatch; Swedish, nappa.) Our nap (to filch or steal) is a variety of the same word.
The keeper or catch of a latch or bolt is called the nab.
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.
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