Catch

Definition of Catch

v. t.

[imp. & p. p. Caught or Catched ( ); p. pr. & vb. n. Catching. Catched is rarely used.]

To lay hold on; to seize, especially with the hand; to grasp (anything) in motion, with the effect of holding; as, to catch a ball.

To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief.

To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as, to catch a bird or fish.

Hence: To insnare; to entangle.

To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to catch a melody.

To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the adjoining building.

To engage and attach; to please; to charm.

The soothing arts that catch the fair.

- Dryden.

To get possession of; to attain.

Torment myself to catch the English throne.

- Shak.

To take or receive; esp. to take by sympathy, contagion, infection, or exposure; as, to catch the spirit of an occasion; to catch the measles or smallpox; to catch cold; the house caught fire.

10.

To come upon unexpectedly or by surprise; to find; as, to catch one in the act of stealing.

11.

To reach in time; to come up with; as, to catch a train.

To catch fire
to become inflamed or ignited.

to catch it
to get a scolding or beating; to suffer punishment.

To catch one's eye
to interrupt captiously while speaking.

To catch up
to snatch; to take up suddenly. - Dickens.

v. i.

To attain possession.

Have is have, however men do catch.

- Shak.

To be held or impeded by entanglement or a light obstruction; as, a kite catches in a tree; a door catches so as not to open.

To take hold; as, the bolt does not catch.

To spread by, or as by, infecting; to communicate.

Does the sedition catch from man to man?

- Addison.

To catch at
to attempt to seize; to be eager to get or use.

To catch up with
to come up with; to overtake. - Addison.

Act of seizing; a grasp.

That by which anything is caught or temporarily fastened; as, the catch of a gate.

The posture of seizing; a state of preparation to lay hold of, or of watching he opportunity to seize; as, to lie on the catch.

The common and the canon law . . . lie at catch, and wait advantages one againt another.

- T. Fuller.

That which is caught or taken; profit; gain; especially, the whole quantity caught or taken at one time; as, a good catch of fish.

Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out either of your brains.

- Shak.

Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony.

Passing opportunities seized; snatches.

It has been writ by catches with many intervals.

- Locke.

A slight remembrance; a trace.

We retain a catch of those pretty stories.

- Glanvill.

(Mus.) A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.

Related Words

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