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Catch   /kætʃ/   Listen
verb
Catch  v. t.  (past & past part. caught; pres. part. catching; catched is rarely used)  
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."
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".
5.
To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to catch a melody. "Fiery thoughts... whereof I catch the issue."
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."
8.
To get possession of; to attain. "Torment myself to catch the English throne."
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."
To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.


Catch  v. i.  (past & past part. caught; pres. part. catching; catched is rarely used)  
1.
To attain possession. (Obs.) "Have is have, however men do catch."
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?"
To catch at, to attempt to seize; to be eager to get or use. "(To) catch at all opportunities of subverting the state."
To catch up with, to come up with; to overtake.


noun
Catch  n.  
1.
Act of seizing; a grasp.
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) "The common and the canon law... lie at catch, and wait advantages one againt another."
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."
5.
Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony. (Colloq.)
6.
pl. Passing opportunities seized; snatches. "It has been writ by catches with many intervals."
7.
A slight remembrance; a trace. "We retain a catch of those pretty stories."
8.
(Mus.) A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Catch" Quotes from Famous Books



... own mine. Thirty miners were entombed, and it was feared that they could not be saved. Immediately all thought of his own concerns fled from him, and sending for a time-table, he looked out a train. He found one that he could just catch. He took a couple of telegram forms in the cab with him, and on one scribbled instructions to his servant to follow him at once with clothes; the other ...
— The Explorer • W. Somerset Maugham
... various kinds—bargaining with the townspeople, and joking and laughing with the soldiers. The streets were now almost deserted, and many of the little traders in vegetables and fruit had closed their shops. The fishermen, however, still carried on their work, and obtained a ready sale for their catch. There had, indeed, been a much greater demand than usual for fish, owing to the falling off in the ...
— Held Fast For England - A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar (1779-83) • G. A. Henty
... little wife," he replied. "We leave this house to-morrow, as soon as those two fools have gone to catch ...
— With Haig on the Somme • D. H. Parry
... highest spirits. A young staff-officer, who passed along the column, relates that he was everywhere recognised with the usual greetings. "Say, here's one of old Jack's little boys; let him by, boys!" "Have a good breakfast this morning, sonny?" "Better hurry up, or you'll catch it for gettin' behind." "Tell old Jack we're all a-comin'. Don't let him begin the fuss till we get there!" But on reaching the turnpike orders were given that all noise should cease, and the troops, deploying for a mile or more on either ...
— Stonewall Jackson And The American Civil War • G. F. R. Henderson
... Weyland's grandmother, representative of the dead aristocracy. By his side stood, clearly, a representative of the rising democracy—one of those "splendid young men" who, the girl thought, would soon be beating the young men of the North at every turn. It was valuable professionally to catch the point of view of these new democrats; and now he had grasped the fact that whatever the changes in outward form, it had an unbroken sentimental continuity with the type which it ...
— Queed • Henry Sydnor Harrison


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