Green’s Dictionary of Slang

snatch n.

[Yorks. dial.; ult. SE snatch, to grab]

1. in sexual contexts.

(a) sexual intercourse, esp. quick or illicit or with a prostitute.

[UK]J. Bale Comedye Concernyng Three Lawes (1550) Act IV: Yea, poore marryed men, haue very much a do, I counte hym wysest, that can take a snatche and to go.
[UK]Greene Quip for an Upstart Courtier E2: What bawdrie is it he will not suffer for he may haue mony and good chere, if he like the wench wel a snatch himselfe for they knowe all the whores in a country.
[UK]R. Burton Anatomy of Melancholy (1850) 558: I could not abide marriage, but as a rambler [...] I took a snatch where I could get it; nay more, I railed at marriage downright.
[UK]R. Brome Eng. Moor IV iv: If I do chance to clap your Barbary buttock / In all her bravery, and get a snatch / In an odd corner, or the dark.
[UK](con. 1940s) G. Morrill Dark Sea Running 119: ‘Let’s get some snatch,’ he said.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 114: I hope my double hasn’t put the muscle on this broad for some ‘snatch’.
[US]‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 13: I don’t dig no bought snatch.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 180: Hot pants here’s after a bit of stray snatch.
[US]J. Stahl I, Fatty 42: All actresses are snatch-peddlers.

(b) (also snatch-block, snatchbox) the vagina [negative image].

‘Roger Ranger’ Covent Garden Jester 19: ‘Last night, in the dark, I run’d my nose into that there snatch, sir,’ replied the tailor, pointing towards Lucy, ‘’twas that caulked up my daylights, sir.’ [...] ‘Damn the scoundrel,’ whispered I to Lapboard, ‘If I had him ashore I’d learn the villain to say he run his nose into my daughter’s snatch.’.
[UK] ‘We Men Such Funny Things Have Got’ Frisky Vocalist 11: And if we’re game, / When we take aim, / Why, into Miss Snatch we tumble!
[UK]Peeping Tom (London) 30 120/2: [a toast] ‘The well-greased rope that easily goes into the snatch-block’.
in Jrnl Hist. Sexuality (July 2002) 445: [He was] cracking jokes from the Dingy’s [sic] stern sheets on ‘sailors’ knives and whores’ snatches’.
[UK]‘Experiences of a Cunt Philosopher’ in Randiana 108: Her lovely rosebud of a snatchbox.
[UK]Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
[US]‘In the Black Berry Patch’ in Bawdy N.Y. State MS. n.p.: When he offered me a quarter to look at my snatch.
[UK]‘Ramrod’ Nocturnal Meeting 21: ‘The odour of man [...] is just as enticing to a randy woman as the scent of her snatch to her lover’.
[US]‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana I 10: Ef dat ain’t de mos’ considerinist wife. Look at dat boy; sends me a hair right off ’er snatch. Hot dawg!
[US] (ref. to 1868) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 76: She could pick up coins the guests put on the edge of a table with her snatch.
[US]N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 48: In yer mother-in-law’s icebox it’s a schooner! [...] Yer mother-in-law’s snatch!
[US]A. Ginsberg ‘Howl’ Howl and Other Poems 12: Who sweetened the snatches of a million girls.
[US]H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 58: Rosie [...] ran back to the kitchen when Harry lunged for her snatch.
[US](con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 105: The girl would have to stand on her head, and he would have to lower himself into her snatch.
[UK]S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 113: Some getting their oats before their time / by dint of threat / in lonely fields / dragged their by snatch-crazed fiends.
[US](con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 178: A female mannequin covered by a tarp – plasterboard, rubber lips, glued on pubic hair, a snatch made from a garden hose.
[Aus]R.G. Barrett White Shoes 196: He felt like sinking one of the R.M. Williams in the next white shoette’s snatch.
[US] ‘The Cooter Monologues’ at www.pinkhairedgirl.com 20 Jan. 🌐 Snatch. Snatch just sounds horribly vulgar. Especially the phrase ‘bleeding snatch.’.
[US]J. Ellroy Hilliker Curse 9: She flashed her snatch at him at some movie-biz party.
[Scot]I. Welsh Decent Ride 33: Ah’d huv had that fuckin tube up baith thair snatches and been suckin like a double-teaming Calton Hill bustie till ah tasted claret.
[US]C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] ‘You the reason I went back to snatch, Junie. Men like you and Spanky. You all make a fag see something special about pussy’.

(c) a woman.

[Aus]Mess Songs and Rhymes of the RAAF 1939-1945 5: Abdul did ride with some snatch by his side, / His face was all flushed with desire.
[US]J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 656: You must of really line yourself up quite a deal with that snatch down town.
[UK](con. WWII) G. Sire Deathmakers 194: If I hadn’t promised my old lady I wouldn’t knock over any other snatch, I’d sure as hell find out tonight what a golden lay is like.
‘Hogbotle and ffuckes’ Snatches and Lays (1973) 72: The ram he fetched made our arseholes stretch / Like an old gin’s snatch when you squeeze 'er, / My penmate strained with his shirt all stained / And his arse went off like a greener.
[US]P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 186–7: We downed a bottle and picked up a couple of octoroon snatch.
[US]L. Heinemann Close Quarters (1987) 84: If this picture-taking snatch wants to be an asshole and work the bushes for us [...] she can be my fucking guest.
[US]G.V. Higgins Rat on Fire (1982) 91: That snatch that’d fuck a flashlight if there was nothing else handy.
[US]C. Cook Robbers (2001) 190: First snatch looks your way, you bust up the deal.
[US]C. Stella Rough Riders 218: Joe’s got himelf some nice snatch there, huh?

(d) a collective term for women in general, as viewed as the route to sexual intercourse.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 200/1: Snatch, n. [...] 5. (Coll.) Loose women.
[US]H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 12: Cruise around in a load like that [...] and you haveta beat the snatch off witha club.
[US]L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 33: Your poor average kid, cruisin’ addled down the street in vague pursuit of snatch or reds.
[US]E. Torres After Hours 44: I never hassle over stray snatch.
[UK]S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 105: You were seduced by snatch.
[US]B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 147: When can we expect an in-depth article on the proper method of jumpin’ factory snatch?
[US]G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 192: ‘I don’t want no monkeys,’ said Fanella. ‘Don’t worry [...] they got white snatch down there too’.

(e) (US prison) a male homosexual.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 200/1: Snatch, n. [...] 5. (Coll.) [...] degenerates.

(f) (US gay) the anus.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 200/1: Snatch, n. [...] 6. (P) The buttocks.
[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.

(g) (US campus) a notably ugly woman.

[US]G. Indiana Rent Boy 85: ‘He was out with this heavy fucking snatch – ’ ‘Ratty hair? Bleach blond?’.

(h) AIDS.

[US]POZ Jan. 🌐 Slang for HIV: ‘The cat flu,’ ‘She’s got snatch’ (gay).

2. an arrest.

[UK]G. Parker View of Society II 71: The Body-Snatchers happened to get intellligence where he was [...] slapped him on the shoulder, informed him that he was a prisoner, and in that manner compleated his Snatch.
[UK]Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 200/1: Snatch, n. [...] 4. Seizure in the commission of a crime; arrest.

3. (UK/US Und.) a robbery, a victim ripe for robbing.

[Ire]Wkly Freeman’s Jrnl 20 Dec. 7/6: After I was chucked up I did a snatch near St Paul’s, was collared, lagged and got this bit of seven stretch.
[US]‘Hal Ellson’ Golden Spike 94: A lone woman appeared. Angel alerted immediately. ‘A snatch!’ he said. ‘Look how she swings that pocketbook. You take her, I’ll cover.’.
[US](con. 1934) H. Robbins A Stone for Danny Fisher 93: Don’t grab no junk; only stuff we can sell. [...] As soon as you made your snatch, blow.
[US]‘Red’ Rudensky Gonif 80: The snatch on Ludwig’s attic had whetted my appetite for this kind of pilfering.
[UK]J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 201: We ’ad this fella who was doin’ all the snatches off the old ladies.

4. (orig. US, also snatcheroo) a kidnapping.

implied in on the snatch
[US]W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 416: Johnny wouldn’t even listen when somebody talked about a snatch.
[US]R.L. Bellem ‘Cooked!’ Dan Turner - Hollywood Detective Jan. 🌐 Lola hired me to put the snatcheroo on you; to keep you here until morning.
[US]P. Rabe Benny Muscles In (2004) 236: A snatch? An old-fashioned abduction?
[US](con. 1958) R. Farina Been Down So Long (1972) 16: You know what, Heff? The Virgin Mary-Mother dug the whole snatch.
[US]D. Pendleton Boston Blitz (1974) 38: I don’t like the idea of bum-rapping a snatch.
[US](con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 470: It placed the kid somewhere else at the time of the Wennerholm snatch.
[US]T. Piccirilli Fever Kill 118: They didn’t know it was a snatch at first. They thought she might’ve just wandered away.
[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 9: ‘It’s a put-up job.’ The snatch played unkosher.

5. attrib. use of sense 4, pertaining to kidnapping.

[US]G.T. Fleming-Roberts ‘Snatch Bait’ in Ten Detective Aces Oct. 🌐 Sergeant Brunt used human bait to hook the snatch mobsters.

6. (US black) a fight.

[US]G. Pelecanos Hell to Pay 6: What about that snatch we did with that boy’s dog over on Crittenden?

Pertaining to the vagina

In compounds

snatch bandit (n.)

a womanizer.

[UK]S. Berkoff East in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 69: She had this short skirt on – and it had tucked gently between her legs in case she flashed her magic snare to some snatch bandit like me.
snatch-blatch (n.) (also snatch-blade) [dial. blatch, dirt]

the vagina.

[UK]Motteux (trans.) Gargantua and Pantagruel (1927) II Bk V 622: pan.: Let us know how you victual the venereal camp. How is the snatchblade? fri.: Rough. [...] pan.: How is the gate-way? fri.: Free. pan.: And how is it within? fri.: Deep. pan.: I mean, what weather is it there? fri.: Hot.
[UK]Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.
[UK]A. Crowley Snowdrops from a Curate’s Garden 22: Her well-worn snatch-blatch could receive no gratification from anything smaller than a village pump-handle.
snatch man (n.)

(US und.) a kidnapper.

[US](con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 8: Stein said there were three more snatch men still out there.
snatch-play (n.) [play n. (2)]

(US black) sexual activity.

[US]R. Russell Sound 113: They were introduced to an insignificant, graying man — ‘on the Jersey side of the snatch play’.
[US]A. Goldman Ladies and Gentlemen – Lenny Bruce! 196: Hipster talk [...] A man over forty, for example, was said to be ‘on the Jersey side of the snatch play’.
snatch shot (n.)

a close-up photograph of the naked vagina.

[US]‘Cory Randolph’ Hungry Debutante n.p.: [I]f he got real lucky he might get a snatch shot of the Carlson girl.
[US]C. Hiaasen Lucky You 49: Shiner would dissect the magazines and arrange his favourite snatch shots across the Plexiglas lid of the ice-cream freezer.
[US]P. Lefcourt Eleven Karens n.p.: Movie star and former Miss Pennsylvania, whose career was launched by the riveting snatch shot in the 1992 hit Basic Instinct.
snatch spread (n.)

(US black) the WWII draft board.

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 13 Mar. 13: [M]y snatch spread flew me a slight kite on the early brights [...] Ole man, I’m brought down.
snatch-thatch (n.) [thatch n. (2)]

the female pubic hair.

[US]‘Frank Cutter’ Shoot the Movie Star 156: My head is a whirlygig of jiggling bubs and freckled fannies and red snatch-thatches .
[UK]‘Timothy Lea’ Confessions of a Private Dick 42: Mrs Brown [...] draws up one of her legs so that I cop an eyeful of snatch thatch.
[US]Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 187: There is a small family of names for the snatch-thatch based upon the tax imposed upon English playing cards in the day of Queen Anne.

In phrases

flash one’s snatch (v.)

to reveal one’s genitals.

[UK] ‘Nix My Jolly Gals Poke Away’ in Gentleman’s Spicey Songster 16: No gal who ever flash’d her snatch, / Could ever bring more swell coves up to the scratch.

Pertaining to crime

In compounds

snatch racket (n.) (also snatch game) [game n. (6)/racket n.1 (1)]

kidnapping.

[US]S. Walker Night Club Era 259: [T]he snatch racket, as kidnaping came to be known, had developed into a popular source of income for the underworld.
C. Bell in Goldenberg Snatched! 30: The regular ‘Snatch’ game is an antiquated affair, and is always marked by certain characteristics. In the first place, the victim is invariably snatched without warning.
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 237: snatch racket A kidnapping.
[UK]‘Nicholas Blake’ Whisper in the Gloom (1959) 119: Get that! He tried to kidnap Bert Hale. He’s in the snatch racket!

In phrases

do a snatch (v.)

to pickpocket.

[US] ‘The Street Arabs of New York’ in Appleton’s Journal (N.Y.) 4 Jan. 47: I caught the butcher-chap a-nappin’, so I slinked up and did a snatch.
on the snatch (UK/US Und.)

1. working as a kidnapper.

[US]D. Runyon ‘The Snatching of Bookie Bob’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 118: Harry the Horse and Spanish John [...] go on the snatch. [Ibid.] 120: Waldo calls it kidnapping, which is a title that will be very repulsive to guys who are on the snatch nowadays.

2. working as a street robber.

[UK]G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 104: I thought you meant on the snatch.
put the snatch on (v.) (US)

1. to kidnap, to seize, to take over.

[US]D. Runyon ‘The Snatching of Bookie Bob’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 122: We are going to put the snatch on Bookie Bob.
[US]R.L. Bellem ‘Daughter of Murder’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective Dec. 🌐 Bradley met her train at Albuquerque; drugged her and put the snatch on her.
[US]W. Burroughs letter 27 May in Harris (1993) 50: I don’t even have a car. The Revenooers put the snatch on it in N.O.
[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 171/2: Put the snatch on. 1. To kidnap.
[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 85: Someone put the snatch on Petey Amadeo’s kid.
[US]W. Diehl Hooligans (2003) 403: We’re gonna put the snatch on him.

2. to arrest.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 171/2: Put the snatch on. [...] To arrest; to seize in the act.
[Can](con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 225: They’d never find the stuff where we got it planted, and if they put the snatch on any of us we’re all clean.