smash and grab
Speech parts
1. smash and grab - Noun
2. smash and grab - Verb
Meaning
(often attributively) A robbery where a window of a shop or other premises is smashed and items are grabbed as quickly as possible.
a smash and grab raid
(by extension, often attributively) An act of theft, appropriation, or other form of gaining advantage at another's expense that is done quickly and audaciously.
smash and grab (third-person singular simple present smashes and grabs, present participle smashing and grabbing, simple past and past participle smashed and grabbed)
To perform a smash and grab.
smash-and-grab (plural smash-and-grabs)
Alternative form of smash and grab
Alternative names
smash-and-grab
Synonyms
Examples
An alert resident helped police arrest a man suspected of pulling off a smash-and-grab burglary in Bangor on Thursday night and twice eluding police on different bicycles, police said Friday.
A gang of thieves attempted to steal $700 million in diamonds and gems (including the necklace pictured) in an elaborate smash-and-grab at the Millennium Dome.
Police say many smash-and-grab thefts that coincided with protests have been carried out by caravans of well-coordinated criminals capitalizing on chaos.
What is more extraordinary is that other mayors – Andy Street in the West Midlands and Manchester’s Andy Burnham – haven’t reacted to this smash-and-grab and this undermining of local democracy.
This is very much unlike the smash-and-grab scenarios plaguing smaller companies, in particular retail and hospitality outlets and food services.