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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



... veil be lifted for a brief moment and the dull ears quickened to catch the pleading accents of the blessed lord? 'Do it unto Me'? none would longer count their flowers and fruit their own, the Royal seal would be seen on each, whether growing wild in copses, or carefully nurtured in hothouse and conservatory, and these treasures ...
— God's Answers - A Record Of Miss Annie Macpherson's Work at the - Home of Industry, Spitalfields, London, and in Canada • Clara M. S. Lowe
... sent by Marguerite had been discovered in his boat, had been taken to the guard-house, and had given such answers as led to the suspicion that he was waiting to aid the flight of some one. The captain of the Guard, thinking so to catch the person for whom the boatman waited, had sent two bodies of men out, one to occupy the spot near which the boy had been found, the other to patrol the river bank in search of questionable persons. I had arrived ...
— An Enemy To The King • Robert Neilson Stephens
... not escaped the weakness. Still, I think some credit is due for the alternative adopted. During the whole voyage, I had kept a reckoning, and paper and pencil were always in my pocket, in readiness to catch a moment to finish a day's work. I wrote as follows on a piece of paper, therefore, as fast as possible, and dropped the billet on the quarter-deck, by enclosing a copper in the scrawl, cents then being in their infancy. I had merely written—"The brig's forecastle is filled with ...
— Afloat And Ashore • James Fenimore Cooper
... fur cap. "If Miss Rawlinson would like to see Mrs. Sandberg, I'll drive her round," he suggested. "We'll catch you up in a league or so. Gregory has a bit of patching to do on his ...
— Hawtrey's Deputy • Harold Bindloss
... he is the scoundrel that was to have charge of the 7 I wrote you about two weeks since; their master was to take or send them there, and he wanted me to send for them. I have since been confirmed it was a trap set to catch one of our colored men and me likewise, but it was no go. I suspected him from the first, but afterwards was fully confirmed in my suspicions. We have found the two Rust boys, John and Elsey Bradley, who the villain of a Bust took out of jail and sold to a trader of the name of Morris, who ...
— The Underground Railroad • William Still


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