搂 is a warm, intimate kind of holding, with your arm wrapped around someone. 抱 is a full two-armed hug, while 搂 can be just having your arm around a waist or shoulder. 搂腰 means to put your arm around someone's waist.
mistakes
搂 has two readings. Third-tone lǒu is 'to hug / embrace'. First-tone lōu means to rake or pull things toward yourself, and by extension to rake in money: 搂钱 (to grab money), 搂柴火 (to rake up firewood).
娄 supplies the sound, standalone lóu drifting to lǒu under the tone shift typical of derived verbs. The same phonetic appears in 楼 (building), 篓 (basket), 数, giving a useful sound family.
