English Explanatory Dictionary

catch

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of seizing or capturing.
  2. The act of catching an object in motion, especially a ball.
  3. The act of noticing, understanding or hearing.
  4. The game of catching a ball.
  5. Something which is captured or caught.
  6. A find, in particular a boyfriend or girlfriend or prospective spouse.
  7. A stopping mechanism, especially a clasp which stops something from opening.
  8. A hesitation in voice, caused by strong emotion.
  9. A concealed difficulty, especially in a deal or negotiation.
  10. A crick; a sudden muscle pain during unaccustomed positioning when the muscle is in use.
  11. A fragment of music or poetry.
  12. A state of readiness to capture or seize; an ambush.
verb
  1. To capture, overtake.
  2. To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape).
  3. To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive.
  4. To marry or enter into a similar relationship with.
  5. To reach (someone) with a strike, blow, weapon etc.
  6. To overtake or catch up to; to be in time for.
  7. To unpleasantly discover unexpectedly; to unpleasantly surprise (someone doing something).
  8. To travel by means of.
  9. To become pregnant. (Only in past tense or as participle.)
  10. To seize hold of.
  11. To grab, seize, take hold of.
  12. To take or replenish something necessary, such as breath or sleep.

Pronunciation

/kat͡ʃ/ kăch /kɛt͡ʃ/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Nattes à chat-catch.wav /kæt͡ʃ/ en-au-catch.ogg kĕch en-us-catch.ogg kŏch /kɑt͡ʃ/

Word forms

catch catches catching caught no-table-tags glossary catched catchest caughtest catchedst catcheth

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Indo-European *kaptós Proto-Italic *kaptos Vulgar Latin captus Proto-Indo-European *-yetider. Vulgar Latin -io Vulgar Latin *captiāre Old French chacierbor. Anglo-Norman cachierbor. Middle English cacchen English catch From Middle English cacchen, from Anglo-Norman cachier, variant of Old French chacier, from Late Latin captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Akin to Modern French chasser (from Old French chacier) and Spanish cazar, and thus a doublet of chase. Compare ketch. Via PIE cognate with have. Displaced Middle English fangen ("to catch"; > Modern English fang (verb)), from Old English fōn (“to seize, take”); Middle English lacchen ("to catch" and heavily displaced Modern English latch), from Old English læċċan. The verb became irregular, possibly under the influence of the semantically similar latch (from Old English læċċan), whose past tense was lahte, lauhte, laught (Old English læhte), until becoming regularised in Modern English.

Synonyms

seizure capture collar snatch grasp haul take observation prize find conquest beau stop chock clasp hasp latch hitch snag problem trick gimmick fragment snippet bit chorus refrain burden fang grab snare hook contract acquire come down with get

Antonyms

drop release

Derived words

ass catch body catch bullet catch bycatch by-catch Catch-22 catchbasin catch bet catch-breath catchbreath catch crop catch-dog catch fence catchful catchline catchmark catch-meadow catch of the day catch plate catchpoints catch-rope catch the ten catch title catchwork catchy crowd catch fair catch glottal catch safety catch shoestring catch time catch catch step miscatch becatch catchability catchable catch a body catch a break catch a buzz catch a case catch a cold catch a crab catch a date catch a dick catch a fade catch a falling knife catch air catch-all catch-allism catch-all party catch and kill catch and kiss catch and release catch a packet catch a ride catch-as-catch-can catch as catch can catch a square catch a stray catch a tan

Translations

Albanian: kapje Bulgarian: хващане Bulgarian: улавяне Danish: fangst Dutch: opvangen Dutch: vangen Esperanto: kapto Estonian: püüe Ewe: xe Finnish: koppi German: Fang Hebrew: תפיסה Hungarian: elkapás Indonesian: tangkap Indonesian: sambut Italian: presa Central Kurdish: گرتن Northern Kurdish: girtin Marathi: कॅच Nyunga: baraniny Portuguese: pegar Portuguese: apanhadura Portuguese: apanhada Russian: пои́мка Russian: захва́т Slovak: chytiť Slovak: chytať Spanish: atrapada Swedish: fångst Albanian: zë Arabic: أَمْسَكَ Arabic: مَسَكَ Arabic: مسك Armenian: բռնել Assamese: ধৰা Azerbaijani: tutmaq Bashkir: тотоу Bashkir: эләктереү Basque: harrapatu Belarusian: лаві́ць Belarusian: злаві́ць Belarusian: залаві́ць Bulgarian: хващам Bulgarian: улавям Bulgarian: закачам се Burmese: ဖမ်း Cebuano: dakup Cherokee: ᎦᏂᏱᎭ Chinese Cantonese: 接 Chinese Mandarin: 捕 Chinese Mandarin: 抓住 Chinese Mandarin: 抓 Chinese Mandarin: 接住 Cornish: cachya Czech: chytit Czech: chytnout Czech: chytit se Czech: chytnout se Danish: fange Dutch: vangen Finnish: pyydystää Finnish: ottaa kiinni Finnish: napata Finnish: siepata Finnish: tarttua French: attraper Georgian: დაჭერა German: fangen Hebrew: תָּפַס Hindi: पकड़ना Ingrian: tavata Ingrian: ottaa kiin Ingrian: tavata kiin Ingrian: pyytää Ingrian: lovittaa Irish: beir ar Irish: ceap Italian: afferrare Italian: prendere Japanese: 捕まえる Japanese: 捕る Korean: 잡다 Lithuanian: pagauti Luxembourgish: fänken Marathi: पकडणे Khiamniungan Naga: thōhlòuh Old English: fōn Persian: گرفتن Polish: łapać Polish: złapać Polish: chwytać Polish: chwycić Portuguese: pegar Portuguese: capturar Romanian: prinde
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