catch



From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:


Catch \Catch\, v. i.
   1. To attain possession. [Obs.]
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            Have is have, however men do catch.   --Shak.
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   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.
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   3. To take hold; as, the bolt does not catch.
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   4. To spread by, or as by, infecting; to communicate.
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            Does the sedition catch from man to man? --Addison.
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   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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:


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.]
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   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.
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   2. To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief.
      "They pursued . . . and caught him." --Judg. i. 6.
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   3. To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as,
      to catch a bird or fish.
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   4. Hence: To insnare; to entangle. "To catch him in his
      words". --Mark xii. 13.
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   5. To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to
      catch a melody. "Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I catch the
      issue." --Tennyson.
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   6. To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the
      adjoining building.
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   7. To engage and attach; to please; to charm.
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            The soothing arts that catch the fair. --Dryden.
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   8. To get possession of; to attain.
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            Torment myself to catch the English throne. --Shak.
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   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.
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   10. To come upon unexpectedly or by surprise; to find; as, to
       catch one in the act of stealing.
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   11. To reach in time; to come up with; as, to catch a train.
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   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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:


Catch \Catch\, n.
   1. Act of seizing; a grasp. --Sir P. Sidney.
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   2. That by which anything is caught or temporarily fastened;
      as, the catch of a gate.
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   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.
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            The common and the canon law . . . lie at catch, and
            wait advantages one againt another.   --T. Fuller.
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   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.
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            Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out
            either of your brains.                --Shak.
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   5. Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife
      in matrimony. [Colloq.] --Marryat.
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   6. pl. Passing opportunities seized; snatches.
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            It has been writ by catches with many intervals.
                                                  --Locke.
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   7. A slight remembrance; a trace.
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            We retain a catch of those pretty stories.
                                                  --Glanvill.
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   8. (Mus.) A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the
      singers catch up each other's words.
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