catch
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /kat͡ʃ/
enpr: kăch
ipa: /kat͡ʃ/
ipa: /kɛt͡ʃ/
enpr: kăch
ipa: /kæt͡ʃ/
enpr: kăch
enpr: kĕch
ipa: /kæt͡ʃ/
ipa: /kɛt͡ʃ/
other: /kɛt͡ʃ/
other: [uent]
enpr: kŏch
ipa: /kɑt͡ʃ/
homophone: ketch stripped-by-parse_pron_post_template_fn
rhymes: -ætʃ
rhymes: -ɛtʃ
Forms: form: catches
form: catching
form: caught
form: caught
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: catch
form: catch
form: caught
form: catched
form: catch
form: catchest
form: caught
form: catched
form: caughtest
form: catchedst
form: catches
form: catcheth
form: caught
form: catched
form: catch
form: caught
form: catched
form: catch
form: caught
form: catched
form: catch
form: -
form: catching
form: caught
form: catched
Etymology: From Middle English cacchen, from Anglo-Norman cachier, variant of Old French chacier, from Late Latin captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Akin to Modern French chasser (from Old French chacier) and Spanish cazar, and thus a doublet of chase. Compare ketch. Displaced Middle English fangen ("to catch"; > Modern English fang (verb)), from Old English fōn (“to seize, take”); Middle English lacchen ("to catch" and heavily displaced Modern English latch), from Old English læċċan.
The verb became irregular, possibly under the influence of the semantically similar latch (from Old English læċċan), whose past tense was lahte, lauhte, laught (Old English læhte), until becoming regularised in Modern English.
Senses: examples: text: I hope I catch a fish.
text: He ran but we caught him at the exit.
text: The police caught the robber at a nearby casino.
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape).
examples: text: And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 12:13:
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive.
examples: text: The public[…]said that Miss Bogardus was a suffragist because she had never caught a man; that she wanted something, but it wasn't the vote.
ref: 1933, Sinclair Lewis, Ann Vickers, page 108:
text: "She caught this blanquito guy from El Condado," and you immediately know "My god, all that money."
ref: 1990 February 4, Vanessa Nemeth, Stephanie Poggi, “Bumps And All”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page 12:
text: As for Aspasia, concubinage with Pericles brought her as much honor as she could hope to claim in Athens.[…]from the moment she caught her man, this influential, unconventional woman became a lightning rod[…].
ref: 2006, Michael Collier, Georgia Machemer, Medea, page 23:
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To marry or enter into a similar relationship with.
examples: text: If he catches you on the chin, you'll be on the mat.
text: The visitors started brightly and had an early chance when Valencia's experienced captain David Albeda gifted the ball to Fernando Torres, but the striker was caught by defender Adil Rami as he threatened to shoot.
ref: 2011 September 28, Jon Smith, “Valencia 1-1 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To reach (someone) with a strike, blow, weapon etc.
examples: text: If you leave now you might catch him.
text: I would love to have dinner but I have to catch a plane.
text: Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Did anyone catch the Charlie Rose the evening before last. Did you catch it? No, nothing?
ref: 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)
text: For reasons I shan’t bore you with, I got them to induce me at 39 weeks, at 10am, with the epidural going in first, and it was all a dream. […] But it was all over in time for my daughter to catch the Nigeria v Argentina World Cup game that evening, during which she seemed to reckon everything was miles offside.
ref: 2014 December 5, Marina Hyde, “Childbirth is as awful as it is magical, thanks to our postnatal ‘care’”, in The Guardian:
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To overtake or catch up to; to be in time for.
examples: text: He was caught on video robbing the bank.
text: He was caught in the act of stealing a biscuit.
text: Once he caught me gazing lingeringly and eagerly at him. He turned round with that mocking air he assumed when he wanted to hide his feelings.
ref: 1952, Nikos Kazantzakis, chapter 1, in Carl Wildman, transl., Zorba the Greek, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, translation of Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά [Víos kai politeía tou Aléxi Zormpá], →ISBN, page 5:
roman: Víos kai politeía tou Aléxi Zormpá
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To unpleasantly discover unexpectedly; to unpleasantly surprise (someone doing something).
examples: text: catch the bus
text: The glare, the flies, while they waited, and he and the stationmaster put their heads together over the time-table, trying to find this other train, which, of course, they wouldn't catch.
ref: 1920, Katherine Mansfield [pseudonym; Kathleen Mansfield Murry], “The Escape”, in Bliss and Other Stories, London: Constable & Company, published 1920, →OCLC, page 273:
text: After about a kilometer I caught a taxi to Santa Croce.
ref: 1987, A.J. Quinnell, In the Name of the Father, page 111:
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To travel by means of.
examples: text: Had Nancy got caught with a child? If so she would destroy her parent's dreams for her.
ref: 2002, Orpha Caton, Shadow on the Creek, pages 102–103:
topics: heading
glosses: To capture, overtake.
To become pregnant. (Only in past tense or as participle.)
examples: text: I caught her by the arm and turned her to face me.
text: Her aged Nourse, whose name was Glaucè hight, / Feeling her leape out of her loathed nest, / Betwixt her feeble armes her quickly keight […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To grab, seize, take hold of.
examples: text: I have to stop for a moment and catch my breath
text: I caught some Z's on the train.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To take or replenish something necessary, such as breath or sleep.
examples: text: My leg was caught in a tree-root.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To grip or entangle.
examples: text: Be careful your dress doesn't catch on that knob.
text: His voice caught when he came to his father's name.
text: Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To be held back or impeded.
examples: text: Push it in until it catches.
text: The engine finally caught and roared to life.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To engage with some mechanism; to stick, to succeed in interacting with something or initiating some process.
examples: text: I caught my heel on the threshold.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To have something be held back or impeded.
examples: text: He caught at the railing as he fell.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To make a grasping or snatching motion (at).
examples: text: The fire spread slowly until it caught the eaves of the barn.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize hold of.
To spread or be conveyed to.
raw_tags: of fire
examples: text: Stop gathering, in that gradual fashion, and catch the water sharply and decisively.
ref: 1906, Arthur W. Stevens, Practical Rowing with Scull and Sweep, page 63:
topics: heading
hobbies
lifestyle
rowing
sports
glosses: To seize hold of.
To grip (the water) with one's oars at the beginning of the stroke.
examples: text: The seeds caught and grew.
topics: agriculture
business
heading
lifestyle
glosses: To seize hold of.
To germinate and set down roots.
examples: text: If you are surfing a wave through the rocks, make sure you have a clear route before catching the wave.
ref: 2001, John Lull, Sea Kayaking Safety & Rescue, page 203:
topics: heading
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
surfing
glosses: To seize hold of.
To contact a wave in such a way that one can ride it back to shore.
examples: text: When the program catches an exception, this is recorded in the log file.
topics: computing
engineering
heading
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To seize hold of.
To handle an exception.
examples: text: I will throw you the ball, and you catch it.
text: Watch me catch this raisin in my mouth.
topics: heading
glosses: To intercept.
To seize or intercept an object moving through the air (or, sometimes, some other medium).
examples: text: she internally resolved henceforward to catch every opportunity of eyeing the hair and of satisfying herself,[…].
ref: 1811, [Jane Austen], “18”, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
topics: heading
glosses: To intercept.
To seize (an opportunity) when it occurs.
examples: text: Townsend hit 29 before he was caught by Wilson.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
heading
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To intercept.
To end a player's innings by catching a hit ball before the first bounce.
examples: text: He caught the last three innings.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
heading
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To intercept.
To play (a specific period of time) as the catcher.
examples: text: You're going to catch a beating if they find out.
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To be the victim of (something unpleasant, painful etc.).
examples: text: The sunlight caught the leaves and the trees turned to gold.
text: Her hair was caught by the light breeze.
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To be touched or affected by (something) through exposure.
examples: text: Everyone seems to be catching the flu this week.
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To become infected by (an illness).
examples: text: Does the sedition catch from man to man?
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, page 5:
text: He accosted Mrs. Browne very civilly, told her his wife was very ill, and said he was sadly troubled to get a white woman to nurse her: "For," said he, "Mrs. Simpson has set it abroad that her fever is catching."
ref: 1817, Mary Martha Sherwood, Stories Explanatory of the Church Catechism:
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To spread by infection or similar means.
examples: text: The bucket catches water from the downspout.
text: The trees caught quickly in the dry wind.
text: the sails caught and filled, and the boat jumped to life beneath us.
ref: 2003, Jerry Dennis, The Living Great Lakes, page 63:
text: And the Bolshoi Ballet Academy’s account of the Grand Pas Classique from “Paquita” […] exemplified the spectacular czarist ideal of ballet that has long since became widely accepted as “classical ballet.” […] It catches an American athleticism and energetic team spirit that still seem to smash European notions of ballet classicism, as does its dancers’ selfless manner and their practicelike costumes.
ref: 2008 June 9, Alastair Macaulay, “In Student Steps and Leaps, a Survey of National Styles”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 28 Jan 2025:
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To receive or be affected by (wind, water, fire etc.).
examples: text: She finally caught the mood of the occasion.
text: And the next thing I knew, I had caught feelings for her.
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To acquire, as though by infection; to take on through sympathy or influence.
examples: text: He caught a bullet in the back of the head last year.
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To be hit by something.
examples: text: The nets caught well, and Mr. Deeley reported it the best fishing ground he ever tried.
ref: 1877, Annual Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, page 135:
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To serve well or poorly for catching, especially for catching fish.
examples: text: Well, if you didn't catch this time, we'll have more fun trying again until you do.
topics: heading
glosses: To receive (by being in the way).
To get pregnant.
examples: text: Did you catch his name?
text: Did you catch the way she looked at him?
text: “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron;[…]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
topics: heading
glosses: To take in with one's senses or intellect.
To grasp mentally: perceive and understand.
examples: text: I have some free time tonight so I think I'll catch a movie.
text: Tom Holland: Gong Xi Fa Cai! It's Tom Holland here. // Mark Wahlberg: And I'm Mark Wahlberg. Catch us in Uncharted this Chinese New Year at GSC. // Tom Holland: Gong Xi Fa Cai!
ref: 2022 January 31, 0:00 from the start, in Tom Holland & Mark Wahlberg Wishes Gong Xi Fa Cai!, GSCinemas, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2022:
topics: heading
glosses: To take in with one's senses or intellect.
To take in; to watch or listen to (an entertainment).
examples: text: You've really caught his determination in this sketch.
topics: heading
glosses: To take in with one's senses or intellect.
To reproduce or echo a spirit or idea faithfully.
examples: text: No, a far more natural beauty caught him.
ref: 2004, Catherine Asaro, The Moon's Shadow, page 40:
topics: heading
glosses: To seize attention, interest.
To charm or entrance.
examples: text: He managed to catch her attention.
text: The enormous scarf did catch my eye.
topics: heading
glosses: To seize attention, interest.
To attract and hold (a faculty or organ of sense).
examples: text: -You made a typo. -Ah, thanks for catching that.
glosses: To notice.
Synonyms: sense: seize in motion
word: fang
sense: seize in motion
word: snatch
sense: seize in motion
word: grab
sense: capture prey
word: capture
sense: capture prey
word: take
sense: capture prey
word: snare
sense: capture prey
word: hook
sense: be hit
word: take
sense: be hit
word: get
Derived terms: becatch
catchability
catchable
catch a body
catch a break
catch a buzz
catch a case
catch a cold
catch a crab
catch a date
catch a dick
catch a fade
catch a falling knife
catch air
catch-all
catch-allism
catch-all party
catch and kill
catch and kiss
catch and release
catch a packet
catch a ride
catch-as-catch-can
catch as catch can
catch a square
catch a stray
catch a tan
catch a Tartar
catch a wave
catchball
catch big air
catch breath
catch cold
catch colt
catchcry
catchdrain
catch dust
catchee
catch-'em-alive-O
catcher
catchfart
catch feelings
catch fire
catch flies
catchfly
catch hands
catch heat
catch hell
catch hold
catch in 4K
catch in 4k
catch in possession
catch in the act
catch it
catch it in the neck
catchlight
catch me
catchment
catch napping
catch no ball
catch no balls
catch on
catch one's breath
catch one's death
catch one's drift
catch oneself on
catch one's eyes
catch on fire
catch out
catch over
catchpenny
catchphrase
catchpit
catch pit
catch points
catchpole
catch red-handed
catch redhanded
catch sight of
catch someone at their own game
catch someone napping
catch someone's drift
catch someone's eye
catch someone's fancy
catch someone with their pants down
catch some rays
catch some z's
catch step
catchstitch
catch the bus
catch the eye
catch the light
catch the queer
catch the sun
catch the wave
catch up
catch-up effect
catchwater
catchweed
catch wind of
catchword
catch wreck
catch you later
catch you on the flip side
catch Z's
caught behind
caught between two stools
caught in the cookie jar
caught looking
caught on the hop
caught raiding the cookie jar
caught short
caught stealing
caught with one's fingers in the cookie jar
caught with one's pants down
caught with the cookie jar
cony-catch
couldn't catch a cold
dog that caught the car
dog who caught the tire
don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear
first catch your hare
flycatch
hard to catch
howcatchem
make someone hard to catch
miscatch
not be caught dead
outcatch
overcatch
recatch
set a thief to catch a thief
the proverbial dog that caught the car
throw a sprat to catch a mackerel
uncatch
wouldn't be caught dead
you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar
you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
you can't catch old birds with chaff
you catch more flies with honey than vinegar
you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar