oatch 
air) : as, to catch a ball. 7. To take captive, 
as in a snare or trap ; take with a lure or bait ; 
insnare; entrap: as, to catch mice or birds; to 
catch fish : often used figuratively in this sense. 
Vu-to my discipillis will I go agayne, 
Kyndely to comforte tham 
That kaeeliitl are in care. York Plays, p. 243. 
They send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the 
Herodians, to catch him in his words. Mark xii. 13. 
I did eat a dish of mackarel, newly catched, for my 
breakfast. ''<;<*, Diary, I. 77. 
This North American species [Drosera juiformix} , . . 
catches, according to Mrs. Treat, an extraordinary num- 
ber of small and large insects. 
lliiriciii, Inst'Ctiv. Plants, p. 281. 
8. To seize after pursuit or search ; apprehend ; 
arrest: as, to catch a thief or a runaway horse. 
This year, I hope, my friends, I shall 'scape prison, 
For all your cares to catch me. 
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, iv. 3. 
9. To get ; obtain ; gain possession of; acquire. 
Therfore, lady, & it like yon, lighten your chere; 
Comford yon kyndly, kacchex sum rest. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 3303. 
No conert migt thei kacche, the cuntre was so playne. 
William of Paleme (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 2217. 
This Kingdome was diuersly rent, euery one catching so 
nmch as his might could bestow on his ambition. 
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 281. 
Torment myself to catch the English crown. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 
10. To seize upon by attraction or impression; 
take and fix the attention of ; hence, to gain in- 
fluence over; captivate. 
Yon think yon have cawjht me, lady ; you think I melt 
now, like a disli of May-butter, and run all into brine and 
passion. Beau, ant fl., Woman-Hater, iii. 1. 
The soothing arts that catch the fair. Dryden. 
The fluency and the personal advantages of the young 
orator instantly caught the ear and the eye of his audi- 
ence. Macaulay, William Pitt. 
The gross and carnal temper in man is far more easily 
caught by power than by love. 
Gladstone, Might of Right, p. 80. 
11. To seize or apprehend by the senses or the 
intellect: as, to catch sight of something. 
In an yll tyme 
Kaughtxt thou in that craft cunnyng of happes. 
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 1087. 
Cleopatra, catching but the least noise of this, dies in- 
stantly. Shak., A. and C., i. 2. 
I caught a glimpse of his face. Tennyson, Maud, xiii. 
Men remark figure : women always catch the expres- 
sion. Emerson, Misc., p. 338. 
12. To get; receive. 
He that cacehith to him an yuel name, 
It is to him a foule fame. 
Babeei Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 39. 
Fight closer, or, good faith, you'll catch a blow. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ill. 2. 
The Church of Carnac by the strand 
Catches the westering sun's last flres. 
M. Arnold, 8tanzas from Carnac. 
13. To be affected or influenced by ; become af- 
fected by or infected with ; take : as, to catch 
cold or the measles ; to catch fire. 
A man takes mercury, goes out of doors and catches cold. 
J. S. Mill, Logic, iii. 5. 
14. To entangle with or entrap in: as, she 
caught the fringe of her shawl on the door-knob. 
15. To seize upon or attack ; fasten upon; be- 
come communicated to: as, the fire caught the 
adjoining buildings. 16. To come on sudden- 
ly, unexpectedly, or accidentally: as, they were 
caught, in the act. 
We shall catch them at their sport ; 
And our sudden coming there 
Will double all their mirth and chere. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 953. 
Catch me ! (catch him \ catch her !) an emphatic phrase 
meaning: that there is no likelihood or possibility of one's 
doing something suggested : as, Will you lend him the 
money? Catch me! [Colloq.] Catch the ten, a game 
of cards common in Scotland, so named from the desira- 
bility of catching the ten of trumps, which counts 10 and 
can be taken by any honor-card. The game resembles 
whist, except that the knave counts 11, the ace 4, the king 
3, and the queen 2 ; it is played with 36 cards, all below 
the six-spot being thrown out, and 100 points make game. 
First catch your hare, a direction occurring in later 
editions of the well-known cookery-book attributed to Mrs. 
Glasse, and used as an aphorism to the effect that, before 
disposing of a thing, you ought to make sure of the pos- 
session of it. In reality the saying arose from a misprint, 
catch being an error for cane, in the sense of to skin. Prop- 
erly, therefore, the direction is, "First case (skin) your 
hare," etc. See case?, v. t. To catch a crab. See crafri. 
To catch a Tatar. See Tatar. To catch hold of, 
to take or lay hold of. To catch it, to get a scolding, 
a beating, or other unpleasant treatment or experience. 
IColloq.] 
We caui/ht it, though, on reaching the Bay of Biscay, 
for we came in for the roll left by a big Atlantic storm. 
E. Sartorius, In the Soudan, p. 2. 
To catch leavet, to take leave. 
Redeli as swithe 
Ful curteisle of the couherde he cacces his leue. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 353. 
858 
Thanne seig thei no soconr but sunder thanne thei moste ; 
With clipping & kessing thei kaujt here leue. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1053. 
To catch one a blow, to inflict a blow on one. [folloq. ] 
To catch one on the hip, to get the advantage "f 
one; get one under one's power. See A/^l. To catch 
out, in bane-ball, cricket, and similar games, to put (the 
striker) out by catching a butted ball before it has touched 
the ground. See base-ball. To catch up. (a) To take 
up suddenly ; snatch up. 
I caught tip a little garden-girl, . . . put a napkin in 
her hand, and made her my butler. 
Lady Hollatid, Sydney Smith, I. vii. 
(b) To lift or raise to a higher elevation. 
I knew a man . . . cattyht up to the third heaven. 
2 Cor. xii. -2. 
Her child was caught vp unto God, and to his throne. 
Rev. xii. 5. 
II. in trans. 1. To take hold with the hand 
or hands; grasp. Specifically 2. To act as 
catcher in the game of base-ball. 3. To ac- 
quire possession. 
Have is have, however men do catch. 
Shak., K. John, i. 1. 
4. To be entangled or impeded ; become fixed ; 
remain fast : as, his clothes caugli i in the briers ; 
the lock catches. 
Don't open yonr month as wide as that, young man, or 
it'll catch so and not shut again some day. 
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iv. IB. 
The little island has such a celebrity in travel and ro- 
mance, that I feel my pen ffttchln't in the tatters of a 
threadbare theme. Ilnwll*, Venetian Life, xiii. 
5. To take proper hold so as to act: as, the 
bolt does not catch. 6. To be communicable 
or infectious ; spread by or as if by infection. 
Does the sedition catch from man to man. 
And run among their ranks '! Addison, Cato, ii. (5. 
His eloquence caught like a flame, 
From zone to zone of the world. 
Tennyson, Dead Prophet. 
7. To endeavor to lay hold of; be eager to get, 
use, or adopt : with at. 
Saucy lictors 
Will catch at us, like strumpets. 
Shak., A. and C., v. 2. 
>*ow, like those that are sinking, they catch round at that 
which is likeliest to hold them up. 
Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii. 
He can receive no pleasure from a casual glimpse of 
Nature, but must catch at it as an object of instruction. 
Lamb, Old and New Schoolmaster. 
Catch as catch can, in wrestling, to grapple ill any or- 
dinary and legitimate manner. To catch on, to appre- 
hend; understand. [Slang, U. S.] To catch up, to get 
to the same point (in place or in work) ; get even or 
abreast, usually by special effort, as in a race, a Journey, 
study, etc. : absolute, or with unth. 
catch, 1 (kach), . [<cfc/ii, . Cf. c/m.sei, ] If. 
The act of catching or seizing ; seizure. 
She would faine the catch of Strephon flie. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. 
Specifically 2. In base-ball an J similar games, 
the catching and holding of a batted or thrown 
ball before it touches the ground. 3. Any- 
thing that seizes or takes hold, that checks mo- 
tion or the like, as a hook, a ratchet, a pawl, a 
spring-bolt for a door or lid, or any other con- 
trivance employed in machinery for the pur- 
pose of stopping. or checking certain move- 
ments. 4. A choking or stoppage of the breath. 
Heard the deep catches of his labouring breath. 
Macmillan's May. 
5. The posture of seizing ; a state of prepara- 
tion to catch, or of watching an opportunity to 
seize. [Archaic.] 
Both of them lay upon the catch for a great action. 
Addison, Ancient Medals. 
6. Anything caught; especially, a prize or 
booty ; something valuable or desirable ob- 
tained or to be obtained; a gain or an advaii- 
tage ; often, colloquially, one desirable as a 
husband or wife on account of wealth or posi- 
tion. 
Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out either 
of your brains. Shak., T. and C., ii. 1. 
She entered freely into the state of her affairs, asked 
his advice upon money matters, and fnlly proved to his 
satisfaction that, independent of her beauty, she would 
be a much greater catch than Fran Vandersloosh. 
Marryat, Snarleyyow, I. xx. 
Specifically 7. Injishing, the quantity of fish 
taken: as, the catch on the Banks during the 
season. 
In order to arrive at a measure of the increase or de- 
crease of the shad fisheries of the Atlantic coast rivers, it is 
necessary to compare the aggregate catch in the prini/i- 
pal rivers. Science, VI., No. 145, Supp. 
8. A snatch ; a short interval of action. 
It has been writ by catches. Locke. 
9. Ahold; a grasp; a grip. 10f. A slight or 
partial recollection. 
catching 
We retain a catch of those pretty stories, and our awak- 
ened imagination .smiles in the recollection. 
Glaneille, Seep. Sci. 
11. A trick ; something by which one may be 
entrapped. 
To [too] Kynde, ne to Kepyng, and warre Knavis cacches. 
llnhees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 9. 
12. In vntxic, originally, an unaccompanied 
round for three or more voices, written as a 
continuous melody, not in score. Later, a round 
the words of which were so selected that it was possible, 
either by means of the pronunciation or by the interweav- 
ing of the words and phrases, tc i give to the different voices 
or parts ludicrous effects. <,Y'i>v. 
Shall we rouse the night-owl in a catch that will draw 
three souls out of one weaver? Shak., T. N., ii. 3. 
catch ' 2 t, . An obsolete form of ketch 2 . 
The fleete did sail, about 103 in all, besides small catches. 
Pepys, Diary, April 25, 1665. 
catchable (kach'a-bl), (i. [< catch* + -able,] 
Capable of being caught. 
The eagerness of a knave maketh him often as catchablf 
as the ignorance of a fool. Lord Halifax. 
catch-all (kach'al), . [< catch* + obi. till.'] 1. 
Something used as a general receptacle for odds 
and ends, as a table, bureau, chest, etc. ; espe- 
cially, a basket or bag provided for the purpose. 
[Colloq.] 2. A tool for recovering broken 
tools from a boring. 
catch-bar (kach'bar), n. A bar which depresses 
the jacks of a knitting-maohine. 
catch-basin (kach'ba"sn), w. 1. A reservoir 
placed at the point of discharge of a pipe into a 
sewer, to retain matter which would not pass 
readily through the sewer. Such basins are 
arranged so that they can be emptied as often 
as is necessary. 2. A reservoir, especially for 
catching and retaining surface-drainage over 
large areas. 
It may fairly be questioned . . . whether any exten- 
sion of forests, or system of mtrh-bamis or reservoirs, 
could possibly retain or mitigate to any considerable ex- 
tent such general and overwhelming floods. 
Science, III. 372. 
catch-bolt (kach'bolt), n. A door-bolt which 
is pressed backward as the door closes, but 
when the door is shut springs forward into a 
socket in the jamb. 
catch-club (kach'klub), . A club or society 
formed for singing catches, etc. 
catch-drain (kach'dran), . 1. A drain along 
the side of a canal or other conduit to catch 
the surplus water. 2. A drain running along 
sloping ground to catch and convey the water 
flowing over the surface. When a meadow is of 
considerable extent, and has an abrupt descent, the water 
is often stopped at intervals by catch-drains, so as to spread 
it over the adjoining surface. 
catcher (kach'er), n. [< ME. cacherc, a hunter; 
< catch + -cr*. Cf. chaser*-.'] If. A chaser; a 
hunter. 
Then thise cacheres that couthe cowpled hor houndeg. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 113H. 
2. One who catches ; that which catches, or in 
which anything is caught. 
That great catcher and devourer of souls. 
South, Sermons, x. 
Specifically (a) In base-ball and similar games, the player 
who stands behind the bat or home-base to catch the ball 
when pitched. See base-ball, (ft) In mining: (1) An ar- 
rangement to prevent overwinding, or raising the cage 
too high as it conies out of the shaft. Also, in Leicester- 
shire, England, the equivalent of cage-shuts (which see). 
(2) In general, any arrangement at the mouth of the shaft, 
or on the pump, by means of which accidents may be pre- 
vented in case a part of the machinery gives way. (c) pi. 
In ornith., the raptorial birds, or birds of prey: a term 
translating Captantes, one of the names of the order. 
3f. One who sings catches. 
But where be my catchers? Come, a round, and so let 
us drink. Srome, Jovial Crew, Iv. 
catcherelt, . [ME. cacherel (ML. reflex ca- 
charellus), < eachen, catchen, catch, + term, -erel, 
as in cockerel. Cf. catchpoll.'] A catchpoll. 
irr iaht. 
catch-feeder (kach'fe"der), . A ditch for ir- 
rigation. 
catch-fly (kach'fli), . The popular name of 
species of plants belonging to the genus Sileue, 
and of Lychnis Viscaria, given on account of 
their glutinous stems, which sometimes retain 
small insects. The sleepy catch-fly is Siletie 
antirrhina. 
catch-hook (kach'huk), . An iron bar with a 
hinged tongue, used in hauling large iron pipes. 
The hinged end is pushed into the bore of the pipe, and 
the tongue jams and is firmly held against its inner sur- 
face when the bar is pulled. 
catching (kach'ing), )>. a. [Ppr. of catch*, .] 
1. Communicating, or liable to be communi- 
cated, by contagion ; infectious. 
