catch

• The catch of the perpetrator was the product of a year of police work.

• The player made an impressive catch.
• Nice catch!

• Good catch. I never would have remembered that.
• "In that case," said Jeff, "I just thought of something else we need." He walked over to one of the stations that was selling household goods and bought a can opener. "Nice catch," said Lucy. - 2008, John I. Carney,...

• The kids love to play catch.

• The fishermen took pictures of their catch.
• The catch amounted to five tons of swordfish.

• Did you see his latest catch?
• He's a good catch.
• Mr. Alfred O'Shea, a tenorizing youth from Australia, sang several times at Queen's Hall, and may congratulate himself on being one of the ‘catches’ of the season. He sang airs from Italian and French operas, and also a...

• She installed a sturdy catch to keep her cabinets closed tight.

• There was a catch in his voice when he spoke his father's name.

• It sounds like a great idea, but what's the catch?
• Be careful, that's a catch question.

Synonyms: hitch

• I bent over to see under the table and got a catch in my side.

• In the lightness of my heart I sang catches of songs as my horse gayly bore me along the well-remembered road. - 1852, Mrs M.A. Thompson, “The Tutor's Daughter”, in Graham's American Monthly Magazine of Literature, Art,...
• "'Fair Enslaver!'" cried Mr. Enderby. "You must know 'Fair Enslaver:' there is not a sweeter catch than that. Come, Miss Ibbotson, begin; your sister will follow, and I—" But it so happened that Miss Ibbotson had never...

• You lie at the catch again: this is not for edification. - 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Part I Section 3:
• The common and the canon law […] lie at catch, and wait advantages one against another. - 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):

• I hope I catch a fish.
• He ran but we caught him at the exit.
• The police caught the robber at a nearby casino.

1. (transitive) To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape).

2. (transitive) To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive.

   • And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 12:13:

3. (transitive, figuratively, dated) To marry or enter into a similar relationship with.

   • 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. - 1933, Sinclair Lewis, Ann Vickers, page 108:
   • "She caught this blanquito guy from El Condado," and you immediately know "My god, all that money." - 1990 February 4, Vanessa Nemeth, Stephanie Poggi, “Bumps And All”, in Gay Community News, volume 17, number 29, page...
   • 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[…]. - 2006,...

4. (transitive) To reach (someone) with a strike, blow, weapon etc.

   • If he catches you on the chin, you'll be on the mat.
   • 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. -...

5. (transitive) To overtake or catch up to; to be in time for.

   • If you leave now you might catch him.
   • I would love to have dinner but I have to catch a plane.
   • Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Did anyone catch the Charlie Rose the evening before last. Did you catch it? No, nothing? - 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1)

6. (transitive) To unpleasantly discover unexpectedly; to unpleasantly surprise (someone doing something).

   • He was caught on video robbing the bank.
   • He was caught in the act of stealing a biscuit.
   • 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. - 1952, Nikos Kazantzakis, chapter 1, in Carl Wildman, transl., Zorba the...

7. (transitive) To travel by means of.

   • catch the bus
   • 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. - 1920, Katherine Mansfield...
   • After about a kilometer I caught a taxi to Santa Croce. - 1987, A.J. Quinnell, In the Name of the Father, page 111:

8. (transitive, rare) To become pregnant. (Only in past tense or as participle.)

   • Had Nancy got caught with a child? If so she would destroy her parent's dreams for her. - 2002, Orpha Caton, Shadow on the Creek, pages 102–103:

• I caught her by the arm and turned her to face me.
• Her aged Nourse, whose name was Glaucè hight, / Feeling her leape out of her loathed nest, / Betwixt her feeble armes her quickly keight […] - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […],...

1. (transitive, dated) To grab, seize, take hold of.

2. (transitive) To take or replenish something necessary, such as breath or sleep.

   • I have to stop for a moment and catch my breath
   • I caught some Z's on the train.

3. (transitive) To grip or entangle.

   • My leg was caught in a tree-root.
   • So Abſalom took a Pride in his Beauty, and particularly in his long Hair. And Providence ſo orders it, that in his Rebellion againſt his Father [David], vvhen he had loſt the Day, this Hair in his Flight catches on the...

4. (intransitive) To be held back or impeded.

   • Be careful your dress doesn't catch on that knob.
   • His voice caught when he came to his father's name.
   • 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...

5. (intransitive) To engage with some mechanism; to stick, to succeed in interacting with something or initiating some process.

   • Push it in until it catches.
   • The engine finally caught and roared to life.

6. (transitive) To have something be held back or impeded.

   • I caught my heel on the threshold.

7. (intransitive) To make a grasping or snatching motion (at).

   • He caught at the railing as he fell.

8. (transitive, of fire) To spread or be conveyed to.

   • The Palace of Deiphobus aſcends / In ſmoaky Flames, and catches on his Friends. / Ucalegon burns next; the Seas are bright / VVith ſplendor, not their ovvn; and ſhine vvith Trojan light. - 1697, Virgil, “The Second Book...
   • The fire spread slowly until it caught the eaves of the barn.

9. (transitive, rowing) To grip (the water) with one's oars at the beginning of the stroke.

   • Stop gathering, in that gradual fashion, and catch the water sharply and decisively. - 1906, Arthur W. Stevens, Practical Rowing with Scull and Sweep, page 63:

10. (intransitive, agriculture) To germinate and set down roots.

    • The seeds caught and grew.

11. (transitive, surfing) To contact a wave in such a way that one can ride it back to shore.

    • If you are surfing a wave through the rocks, make sure you have a clear route before catching the wave. - 2001, John Lull, Sea Kayaking Safety & Rescue, page 203:

12. (transitive, computing) To handle an exception.

    • When the program catches an exception, this is recorded in the log file.

• I will throw you the ball, and you catch it.
• Watch me catch this raisin in my mouth.

1. (transitive) To seize or intercept an object moving through the air (or, sometimes, some other medium).

2. (transitive, now rare) To seize (an opportunity) when it occurs.

   • she internally resolved henceforward to catch every opportunity of eyeing the hair and of satisfying herself,[…]. - 1811, [Jane Austen], “18”, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III),...

3. (transitive, cricket) To end a player's innings by catching a hit ball before the first bounce.

   • Townsend hit 29 before he was caught by Wilson.

4. (transitive, intransitive, baseball) To play (a specific period of time) as the catcher.

   • He caught the last three innings.

• You're going to catch a beating if they find out.

1. (transitive) To be the victim of (something unpleasant, painful etc.).

2. (transitive) To be touched or affected by (something) through exposure.

   • The sunlight caught the leaves and the trees turned to gold.
   • Her hair was caught by the light breeze.

3. (transitive, informal) To become infected by (an illness).

   • Near-synonym: come down with
   • Everyone seems to be catching the flu this week.

   Synonyms: contract acquire come down with

4. (intransitive) To spread by infection or similar means.

   • Does the sedition catch from man to man? - 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act II, scene i, page 31:
   • 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." -...

5. (transitive, intransitive) To receive or be affected by (wind, water, fire etc.).

   • The bucket catches water from the downspout.
   • The trees caught quickly in the dry wind.
   • the sails caught and filled, and the boat jumped to life beneath us. - 2003, Jerry Dennis, The Living Great Lakes, page 63:

6. (transitive) To acquire, as though by infection; to take on through sympathy or influence.

   • She finally caught the mood of the occasion.
   • And the next thing I knew, I had caught feelings for her.

7. (transitive) To be hit by something.

   • He caught a bullet in the back of the head last year.

8. (intransitive) To serve well or poorly for catching, especially for catching fish.

   • The nets caught well, and Mr. Deeley reported it the best fishing ground he ever tried. - 1877, Annual Report of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, page 135:

9. (intransitive) To get pregnant.

   • Well, if you didn't catch this time, we'll have more fun trying again until you do.

• Did you catch his name?
• Did you catch the way she looked at him?
• “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...

Synonyms: grasp get

1. (transitive) To grasp mentally: perceive and understand.

2. (transitive, informal) To take in; to watch or listen to (an entertainment).

   • I have some free time tonight so I think I'll catch a movie.
   • 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! - 2022 January 31, 0:00 from the start, in...

3. (transitive) To reproduce or echo a spirit or idea faithfully.

   • You've really caught his determination in this sketch.

• No, a far more natural beauty caught him. - 2004, Catherine Asaro, The Moon's Shadow, page 40:

1. (transitive) To charm or entrance.

2. (transitive) To attract and hold (a faculty or organ of sense).

   • He managed to catch her attention.
   • The enormous scarf did catch my eye.

• -You made a typo. -Ah, thanks for catching that.