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catch - 7 dictionary results
catch
[kach]
verb, caught, catch⋅ing, noun, adjective –verb (used with object)
| 1. | to seize or capture, esp. after pursuit: to catch a criminal; to catch a runaway horse. |
| 2. | to trap or ensnare: to catch a fish. |
| 3. | to intercept and seize; take and hold (something thrown, falling, etc.): to catch a ball; a barrel to catch rain. |
| 4. | to come upon suddenly; surprise or detect, as in some action: I caught him stealing the pumpkin. |
| 5. | to receive, incur, or contract: to catch a cold. |
| 6. | to be in time to get aboard (a train, boat, etc.). |
| 7. | to lay hold of; grasp; clasp: He caught her arm. |
| 8. | to grip, hook, or entangle: The closing door caught his arm. |
| 9. | to allow (something) to become gripped, hooked, snagged, or entangled: He caught his coat on a nail. |
| 10. | to attract or arrest: The painting caught his fancy. His speech caught our attention. |
| 11. | to check or restrain suddenly (often used reflexively): She caught her breath in surprise. He caught himself before he said the wrong thing. |
| 12. | to see or attend: to catch a show. |
| 13. | to strike; hit: The blow caught him on the head. |
| 14. | to become inspired by or aware of: I caught the spirit of the occasion. |
| 15. | to fasten with or as if with a catch: to catch the clasp on a necklace. |
| 16. | to deceive: No one was caught by his sugary words. |
| 17. | to attract the attention of; captivate; charm: She was caught by his smile and good nature. |
| 18. | to grasp with the intellect; comprehend: She failed to catch his meaning. |
| 19. | to hear clearly: We caught snatches of their conversation. |
| 20. | to apprehend and record; capture: The painting caught her expression perfectly. |
| 21. | South Midland and Southern U.S. to assist at the birth of: The town doctor caught more than four hundred children before he retired. |
–verb (used without object)
| 22. | to become gripped, hooked, or entangled: Her foot caught in the net. |
| 23. | to overtake someone or something moving (usually fol. by up, up with, or up to). |
| 24. | to take hold: The door lock doesn't catch. |
| 25. | Baseball. to play the position of catcher: He catches for the Yankees. |
| 26. | to become lighted; take fire; ignite: The kindling caught instantly. |
| 27. | to become established, as a crop or plant, after germination and sprouting. |
–noun
| 28. | the act of catching. |
| 29. | anything that catches, esp. a device for checking motion, as a latch on a door. |
| 30. | any tricky or concealed drawback: It seems so easy that there must be a catch somewhere. |
| 31. | a slight, momentary break or crack in the voice. |
| 32. | that which is caught, as a quantity of fish: The fisherman brought home a large catch. |
| 33. | a person or thing worth getting, esp. a person regarded as a desirable matrimonial prospect: My mother thinks Pat would be quite a catch. |
| 34. | a game in which a ball is thrown from one person to another: to play catch; to have a catch. |
| 35. | a fragment: catches of a song. |
| 36. | Music. a round, esp. one in which the words are so arranged as to produce ludicrous effects. |
| 37. | Sports. the catching and holding of a batted or thrown ball before it touches the ground. |
| 38. | Rowing. the first part of the stroke, consisting of the placing of the oar into the water. |
| 39. | Agriculture. the establishment of a crop from seed: a catch of clover. |
–adjective
—Verb phrases| 40. | catchy (def. 3). |
| 41. | catch at, to grasp at eagerly; accept readily: He caught at the chance to get free tickets. |
| 42. | catch on,
|
| 43. | catch out, Chiefly British. to catch or discover (a person) in deceit or an error. |
| 44. | catch up,
|
| 45. | catch a crab, (in rowing) to bungle a stroke by failing to get the oar into the water at the beginning or by failing to withdraw it properly at the end. |
| 46. | catch a turn, Nautical. to wind a rope around a bitt, capstan, etc., for one full turn. |
| 47. | catch it, Informal. to receive a reprimand or punishment: He'll catch it from his mother for tearing his good trousers again. |
Origin:
1175–1225; ME cacchen to chase, capture < ONF cachier < VL *captiāre, for L captāre to grasp at, seek out, try to catch, freq. of capere to take
1175–1225; ME cacchen to chase, capture < ONF cachier < VL *captiāre, for L captāre to grasp at, seek out, try to catch, freq. of capere to take

Related forms:
catch⋅a⋅ble, adjective
Synonyms:
1. apprehend, arrest. 7. Catch, clutch, grasp, seize imply taking hold suddenly of something. To catch may be to reach after and get: He caught my hand. To clutch is to take firm hold of (often out of fear or nervousness), and retain: The child clutched her mother's hand. To grasp also suggests both getting and keeping hold of, with a connotation of eagerness and alertness, rather than fear (literally or figuratively): to grasp someone's hand in welcome; to grasp an idea. To seize implies the use of force or energy in taking hold of suddenly (literally or figuratively): to seize a criminal; to seize an opportunity. 17. enchant, fascinate, win. 28. capture, apprehension, arrest. 29. ratchet, bolt.
1. apprehend, arrest. 7. Catch, clutch, grasp, seize imply taking hold suddenly of something. To catch may be to reach after and get: He caught my hand. To clutch is to take firm hold of (often out of fear or nervousness), and retain: The child clutched her mother's hand. To grasp also suggests both getting and keeping hold of, with a connotation of eagerness and alertness, rather than fear (literally or figuratively): to grasp someone's hand in welcome; to grasp an idea. To seize implies the use of force or energy in taking hold of suddenly (literally or figuratively): to seize a criminal; to seize an opportunity. 17. enchant, fascinate, win. 28. capture, apprehension, arrest. 29. ratchet, bolt.
Antonyms:
1, 7, 28. release.
1, 7, 28. release.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To catch
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Catch
Catch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Caughtor Catched; p. pr. & vb. n. Catching. Catched is rarely used.] [OE. cacchen, OF. cachier, dialectic form of chacier to hunt, F. chasser, fr. (assumend) LL. captiare, for L. capture, V. intens. of capere to take, catch. See Capacious, and cf. Chase, Case a box.]1. 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. 2. To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief. "They pursued . . . and caught him." --Judg. i. 6. 3. To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as, to catch a bird or fish. 4. Hence: To insnare; to entangle. "To catch him in his words". --Mark xii. 13. 5. To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to catch a melody. "Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I catch the issue." --Tennyson. 6. To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the adjoining building. 7. To engage and attach; to please; to charm. The soothing arts that catch the fair. --Dryden. 8. To get possession of; to attain. Torment myself to catch the English throne. --Shak. 9. 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. [Colloq.] To catch one's eye, to interrupt captiously while speaking. [Colloq.] "You catch me up so very short." --Dickens. To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.Catch
Catch\, v. i. 1. To attain possession. [Obs.] Have is have, however men do catch. --Shak. 2. 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. 3. To take hold; as, the bolt does not catch. 4. 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 at all opportunities of subverting the state." --Addison. To catch up with, to come up with; to overtake.Catch
Catch\, n. 1. Act of seizing; a grasp. --Sir P. Sidney. 2. That by which anything is caught or temporarily fastened; as, the catch of a gate. 3. 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. [Archaic] --Addison. The common and the canon law . . . lie at catch, and wait advantages one againt another. --T. Fuller. 4. 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. 5. Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony. [Colloq.] --Marryat. 6. pl. Passing opportunities seized; snatches. It has been writ by catches with many intervals. --Locke. 7. A slight remembrance; a trace. We retain a catch of those pretty stories. --Glanvill. 8. (Mus.) A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : catch
Spanish:
coger, atrapar,
German:
fangen,
Japanese:
捕える
catch (v.)
c.1205, from Anglo-Fr. cachier "catch, capture" (animals), from V.L. *captiare "try to seize, chase," freq. of L. capere "to take, hold" (see capable). Sense shifted from original meaning of "chase, hunt." Past tense form caught is rare instance of Eng. strong verb with Fr. origin, probably infl. by latch, the cognate native verb, which this word replaced. Noun meaning "that which is caught or worth catching" (especially of spouses) is from 1596. Catchy was a colloquial word in 1831. To catch on "apprehend" is 1884, Amer.Eng. colloquial. To catch (someone's) eye is first attested 1813, in Jane Austen. Catchword (1730) was originally the first word of the following page inserted at the right-hand lower corner of each page of a book; extended to "word caught up and repeated" (especially in the political sense) by 1795. Catch as catch can first attested 1393.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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catch
In addition to the idioms beginning with catch, also see early bird catches the worm; get (catch) the drift; takes one to know one (a thief to catch a thief). Also see under caught.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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