Catch (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Caught (?) or 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.
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
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.
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.
