CATCH, v.t.

1. Seizure; the act of seizing.
2. Any thing that seizes or takes hold, as a hook.
3. The posture of seizing; a state of preparation to catch, or of watching an opportunity to seize; as, to lie upon the catch. – Addison.
4. A sudden advantage taken. – Dryden.
5. The thing caught, considered as an object of desire; profit; advantage. Hector shall have a great catch. – Shak.
6. A snatch; a short interval of action. It has been writ by catches. – Locke.
7. A little portion. We retain a catch of a pretty story. – Glanville.
8. In music, a fugue in the unison, wherein to humor some conceit in the words, the melody is broken, and the sense is interrupted in one part, and caught and supported by another, or a different sense is given to the words; or a piece for three or more voices, one of which leads and the others follow in the same notes. – Encyc. Busby.

1. To communicate; to spread by infecting; as, a disease will catch from man to man.
2. To seize and hold; as, a hook catches.

1. To seize or lay hold on with the hand; carrying the sense of pursuit, thrusting forward the hand, or rushing on. And they came upon him and caught him. – Acts vi.
2. To seize, in a general sense; as, to catch a ball; to catch hold of a bough.
3. To seize, as in a snare or trap; to insnare; to entangle. They sent certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. – Mark xii.
4. To seize in pursuit; hence simply to overtake; a popular use of the word. He ran, but could not catch his companion.
5. To take hold; to communicate to. The fire caught the adjoining building.
6. To seize the affections; to engage and attach to; as, to catch the fair. – Dryden.
7. To take or receive by contagion or infection; as, to catch the measles or small-pox.
8. To snatch; to take suddenly; as, to catch a book out of the hand.
9. To receive something passing. The swelling sails no more Catch the soft airs and wanton in the sky. – Trumbull. To catch at, to endeavor to seize suddenly. To catch at all opportunities of subverting the state. – Addison. To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.

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 attain possession.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Have is have, however men do catch.
   Shak.

3. Act of seizing; a grasp.
   
   
   Sir P. Sidney.
4. To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief.
   
   
   "They pursued . . . and caught him." Judg. i. 6.
5. 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.
6. That by which anything is caught or temporarily fastened; as, the catch of a gate.
7. To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as, to catch a bird or fish.
8. To take hold; as, the bolt does not catch.
9. 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.

10. Hence: To insnare; to entangle.
    
    
    "To catch him in his words". Mark xii. 13.
11. 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.

12. 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.

13. To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to catch a melody.
    
    
    "Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I catch the issue." Tennyson.
14. Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony.
    
    
    [Colloq.] Marryat.
15. To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the adjoining building.
16. Passing opportunities seized; snatches.
    
    

    It has been writ by catches with many intervals.
    Locke.

17. To engage and attach; to please; to charm.
    
    

    The soothing arts that catch the fair.
    Dryden.

18. A slight remembrance; a trace.
    
    

    We retain a catch of those pretty stories.
    Glanvill.

19. To get possession of; to attain.
    
    

    Torment myself to catch the English throne.
    Shak.

20. A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.
21. 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.
22. To come upon unexpectedly or by surprise; to find; as, to catch one in the act of stealing.
23. 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.