Catch (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Caught (?) ∨ 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.]
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."
Judg. i. 6.
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".
Mark xii. 13.
5.
To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to catch a melody.
"Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I
catch the issue."
Tennyson.
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.
Dryden.
8.
To get possession of; to attain.
Torment myself to catch the English throne.
Shak.
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." Dickens. -- To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.
© Webster 1913.
Catch (?), v. i.
1.
To attain possession.
[Obs.]
Have is have, however men do catch.
Shak.
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?
Addison.
To catch at, to attempt to seize; to be egger to get or use. "[To] catch at all opportunities of subverting the state." Addison. -- To catch up with, to come up with; to overtake.
© Webster 1913.
Catch, n.
1.
Act of seizing; a grasp.
Sir P. Sidney.
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]
Addison.
The common and the canon law . . . lie at catch, and wait advantages one againt another.
T. Fuller.
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.
Shak.
5.
Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony.
[Colloq.]
Marryat.
6. pl.
Passing opportunities seized; snatches.
It has been writ by catches with many intervals.
Locke.
7.
A slight remembrance; a trace.
We retain a catch of those pretty stories.
Glanvill.
8. Mus.
A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.
© Webster 1913.