catch | |
1. n. The act of seizing or capturing. | |
The catch of the perpetrator was the product of a year of police work. | |
2. n. The act of catching an object in motion, especially a ball. | |
The player made an impressive catch. | |
Nice catch! | |
3. n. The act of noticing, understanding or hearing. | |
Good catch. I never would have remembered that. | |
4. n. The game of catching a ball. | |
The kids love to play catch. | |
5. n. A find, in particular a boyfriend or girlfriend or prospective spouse. | |
Did you see his latest catch? | |
He's a good catch. | |
6. n. Something which is captured or caught. (jump, quantity captured, s) | |
The fishermen took pictures of their catch. | |
The catch amounted to five tons of swordfish. | |
7. n. A stopping mechanism, especially a clasp which stops something from opening. | |
She installed a sturdy catch to keep her cabinets closed tight. | |
8. n. A hesitation in voice, caused by strong emotion. | |
There was a catch in his voice when he spoke his father's name. | |
9. n. (sometimes noun adjunct) A concealed difficulty, especially in a deal or negotiation. | |
It sounds like a great idea, but what's the catch? | |
Be careful, that's a catch question. | |
10. n. A crick; a sudden muscle pain during unaccustomed positioning when the muscle is in use. | |
I bent over to see under the table and got a catch in my side. | |
11. n. A fragment of music or poetry. | |
12. n. (obsolete) A state of readiness to capture or seize; an ambush. | |
13. n. (agriculture) A crop which has germinated and begun to grow. | |
14. n. (obsolete) A type of strong boat, usually having two masts; a ketch. | |
15. n. (music) A type of humorous round in which the voices gradually catch up with one another; usually sung by men and often having bawdy lyrics. | |
16. n. (music) The refrain; a line or lines of a song which are repeated from verse to verse. | |
17. n. (cricket, baseball) The act of catching a hit ball before it reaches the ground, resulting in an out. | |
18. n. (cricket) A player in respect of his catching ability; particularly one who catches well. | |
19. n. (rowing) The first contact of an oar with the water. | |
20. n. (phonetics) A stoppage of breath, resembling a slight cough. | |
21. n. Passing opportunities seized; snatches. | |
22. n. A slight remembrance; a trace. | |
23. v. To capture, overtake.: | |
24. v. To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape). | |
I hope I catch a fish. He ran but we caught him at the exit. The police caught the robber at a nearby casino. | |
25. v. To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive. | |
26. v. (transitive figuratively, dated) To marry or enter into a similar relationship with. | |
27. v. To reach (someone) with a strike, blow, weapon etc. | |
If he catches you on the chin, you'll be on the mat. | |
28. v. 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. | |
29. v. 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. | |
30. v. To travel by means of. | |
catch the bus | |
31. v. (transitive, rare) To become pregnant. (Only in past tense or as participle.) | |
32. v. To seize hold of.: | |
33. v. (transitive, dated) To grab, seize, take hold of. | |
I caught her by the arm and turned her to face me. | |
34. v. 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. | |
35. v. To grip or entangle. | |
My leg was caught in a tree-root. | |
36. v. (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. | |
37. v. (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. | |
38. v. To have something be held back or impeded. | |
I caught my heel on the threshold. | |
39. v. (intransitive) To make a grasping or snatching motion (at). | |
He caught at the railing as he fell. | |
40. v. Of fire, to spread or be conveyed to. | |
The fire spread slowly until it caught the eaves of the barn. | |
41. v. (transitive, rowing) To grip (the water) with one's oars at the beginning of the stroke. | |
42. v. (intransitive, agriculture) To germinate and set down roots. | |
The seeds caught and grew. | |
43. v. (transitive, surfing) To contact a wave in such a way that one can ride it back to shore. | |
44. v. (transitive, computing) To handle an exception. | |
When the program catches an exception, this is recorded in the log file. | |
45. v. To intercept.: | |
46. v. To seize or intercept an object moving through the air (or, sometimes, some other medium). | |
I will throw you the ball, and you catch it. Watch me catch this raisin in my mouth. | |
47. v. (transitive, now rare) To seize (an opportunity) when it occurs. | |
48. v. (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. | |
49. v. (transitive, intransitive, baseball) To play (a specific period of time) as the catcher. | |
He caught the last three innings. | |
50. v. To receive (by being in the way).: | |
51. v. To be the victim of (something unpleasant, painful etc.). | |
You're going to catch a beating if they find out. | |
52. v. 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. | |
53. v. To be infected by (an illness). | |
Everyone seems to be catching the flu this week. | |
54. v. (intransitive) To spread by infection or similar means. | |
55. v. (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. | |
56. v. To acquire, as though by infection; to take on through sympathy or infection. | |
She finally caught the mood of the occasion. | |
57. v. To be hit by something. | |
He caught a bullet in the back of the head last year. | |
58. v. (intransitive) To serve well or poorly for catching, especially for catching fish. | |
59. v. (intransitive,) To get pregnant. | |
Well, if you didn't catch this time, we'll have more fun trying again until you do. | |
60. v. To take in with one's senses or intellect.: | |
61. v. To grasp mentally: perceive and understand. | |