Grab a Bite

Idiom:  Grab a Bite; used as a verb phrase.

Example 1:  

“I am SO hungry right now!  Which restaurant do you guys want to go to for lunch?  We could grab a bite at the Japanese Restaurant down the street.”

Meaning:  To Grab a Bite basically means to get something to eat.  In this example, the speaker was extremely hungry and wanted to find out where they would go for lunch.  The speaker then suggested that they get something to eat at the Japanese Restaurant that was nearby.  This idiom can be used in a casual way to suggest places to get something to eat.  Typically, this idiom implies a small amount of food, such as a snack, lunch item, or fast food.  It is NOT usually used to describe larger portions of food, like those eaten during dinner-time.

Example 2:

“I was in a hurry to meet my boss for the two o’clock meeting, so I grabbed a quick bite at the nearest fast-food restaurant that was along the way.”

Meaning:  In this example, to Grab a Bite is used to describe a small amount of food that would quickly satisfy the speaker’s hunger.

This idiom is from the book "The Slangman – Guide to Street Speak 1," which is used as supplementary Idioms material in LSI’s Intermediate Conversation classes.

For more information, please visit http://www.languagesystems.com/