(transitive, informal) To do something quickly in the limited time available.
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He snatched a sandwich before catching the train.
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He snatched a glimpse of her while her mother had her back turned.
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It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
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1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
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No department of the Southern Railway escaped some share of the work involved, and the outdoor traffic and locomotive staffs in particular were engaged literally night and day, snatching a few hours' sleep as opportunity offered, until the task was completed.
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1940 July, “Notes and News: A Magnificent Transport Achievement”, in Railway Magazine, page 419:
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You might now reason that even a 12-minute walk to the store to buy a can of beans is too great an expenditure of time, and that the fee paid for one-hour delivery is a fair price to snatch those minutes back into your life.
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2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian[1]:
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In 1914, the Hendon and Finchley Times published a piece titled 'People who have no Christmas'. An engine-driver's comment was this: "For many years now I have never enjoyed a real Christmas. My engine has claimed me on this day, and my only regret is that I am not attached to a slow goods train, so that I could snatch time to eat some plum-pudding."
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2022 December 14, David Turner, “The Edwardian Christmas getaway...”, in RAIL, number 972, page 35: