catch

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of catching an object with the hands

   The outfielder made the catch with their ungloved hand.

2. 2
   noun

   a cooperative game in which a ball is passed back and forth

   I played catch with my kids in the backyard.

3. 3
   noun

   a drawback or difficulty that is not readily evident

   it sounds good but what's the catch?

4. 4
   noun

   anything that is caught, especially if it is worth catching

   We shared our catch with the others.

5. 5
   noun

   the quantity that was caught

   the catch was only 10 fish

6. 6
   verb

   to contract

   did you catch a cold?

7. 7
   verb

   to be struck or affected by

   catch fire

8. 8
   verb

   to grasp with the mind or develop an understanding of

   Did you catch that allusion?

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. V…