grab and run
Seize and flee
Grab and run describes a theft where someone snatches merchandise or a person's belongings and immediately flees: It was a grab and run—he took the phone right out of her hand and sprinted off.
The phrase also works as a noun for this type of crime or as an adjective: grab-and-run theft.
More casually, it describes any quick in-and-out errand: I just need to do a grab and run at the grocery store.
- thiefOne who steals
- stealTake without permission
- crimePunishable illegal act
- petty theftMinor stealing offense
- shopliftingStealing store merchandise
snatch · furtive · dine and dash · flee · impulse · opportunism · pickpocketing · robbery · bolting · dashing · grasping · getaway · larceny · sprinting · burglary · recklessness · mugging · darting
- theftstealing, larceny, steal, burglary, robbery
- retail theftshoplifting, shoplifter, stealing, concealment, five-finger discount
grab and runlong con
Protracted, elaborate swindle
Ocean's Eleven · inside job · caper · white-collar crime · embezzlement
grab, run, grabs, grabbed, grabbing, grabber, runs, ran, running