Webster's English Dictionary

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catch

Cross references:
  1. incur                 
 
1. catch \'kach, 'kech\ \'ko.t\ vb or caught;  or catch.ing [ME cacchen, 
   fr. ONF cachier to hunt, fr. (assumed) VL captiare)X, alter. of L captare 
   to chase, fr. captus, pp. of capere to take - more at HEAVE 1a: to capture 
   or seize esp. after pursuit  1b: TRAP, ENSNARE  1c: DECEIVE  1d: to 
   discover unexpectedly : FIND {caught in the act}  1e: to check suddenly or 
   momentarily  1f: to become suddenly aware of  2a: to take hold of : SEIZE  
   2b: to affect suddenly  2c: SNATCH, INTERCEPT  2d: to avail oneself of : 
   TAKE  2e: to obtain through effort : GET  2f: to get entangled {~ a sleeve 
   on a nail}  3a: to become affected by {~ fire ~ pneumonia}  3b: to be 
   struck by  4a: to seize and hold firmly  4b: FASTEN  5: to take or get usu. 
   momentarily or quickly {~ a glimpse of a fr iend} 6a: OVERTAKE  6b: to get 
   aboard in time {~ the bus}  7: ATTRACT, ARREST  8: to make contact with  9: 
   to grasp by the senses or the mind : APPREHEND  1: to grasp hastily or try 
   to grasp  2: to become caught  of a crop  3: to come up and become 
   established  4: to play the position of catcher on a baseball team MCATCH 
   implies the seizing of something in motion or in flight or in hiding; 
   CAPTURE suggests taking by overcoming resistance or difficulty; TRAP, 
   SNARE, ENTRAP, ENSNARE imply seizing by some device that holds the one 
   caught at the mercy of his captor; TRAP and SNARE apply more commonly to 
   physical seizing, ENTRAP and ENSNARE more often to figurative; BAG implies 
   getting possession of by shooting down a fleeing or distant quarry SYN syn 
   CAPTURE, TRAP, SNARE, ENSNARE, BAG: 
2. catch n 1: something caught; esp : the total quantity caught at one time 
    2a: the act, action, or fact of catching  2b: a game in which a ball is 
   thrown and caught  3: something that checks or holds immovable  4: one 
   worth catching esp. as a spouse  5: a round for three or more unaccompanied 
   voices written out as one contin uous melody with each succeeding singer 
   taking up a part in turn 6: FRAGMENT, SNATCH  7: a concealed difficulty  8: 
   the catching of a field crop