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to grab coffee

to grab coffee

28 1.6
Quickly buy a cup of coffee, often to meet someone briefly
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
translation icon : tomar un café
  • Grab a coffee and a donut before you head out, and it could be the start of a wonderful tradition!
  • grab a cup of coffee
  • go grab a coffee
  • wanna grab a coffee

And so I just felt this need to grab my coffee and to run up here.

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Examples

  • Oh, hello, made it to the train station with enough time to grab a coffee, which is very important.

  • I was thinking we should go grab a coffee.

  • So, yeah, we're going to grab coffee, go to the room, kick it.

  • Going to grab some coffee with some of my friends from school.

  • Do you think we can grab a coffee or something?

  • Do you wanna come grab a coffee with me?

  • You want to grab a cup of coffee?

  • Let's grab a coffee real quick.

  • Maybe we can grab coffee sometime this week?

    Blog text (9)
  • Do you want to grab coffee with me at that new cafe tomorrow?

Synonyms

to get some coffee
vsto grab coffee
100 1.0

To buy coffee to drink with someone casually

focuses more on quickness and hurry rather than the social aspect
to snatch up
vsto grab coffee
24 4.6

To grab something quickly, often before someone else

means a quick casual purchase for a short break rather than forceful taking
to grab a coffee
vsto grab coffee
  • Informal
7 2.4

To buy a cup of coffee quickly as a short break

is more about hurried casual action than taking a short break

How Quickly

to grab coffee
  • Informal
28 1.6

Surface Forms

grab coffee infinitive
grabbed coffee past participle
grabbing coffee present participle
grabs coffee third person singular

Morphology

grab + coffee

The meaning 'to quickly get or buy a cup of coffee' is directly derivable from combining 'grab' (to take or get quickly) with 'coffee' (the beverage); the verb+object composition yields a literal, predictable interpretation. Although colloquial and sometimes used to imply meeting for coffee, the core sense is transparent and should be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Grab coffee comes from the simple image of someone quickly taking a cup of coffee on the go. Because this is often a short, casual stop, people use grab coffee to mean 'to quickly get or buy a cup of coffee' or to meet briefly to chat.