intercept

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   seize on its way

   The fighter plane was ordered to intercept an aircraft that had entered the country's airspace.

2. 2
   verb

   To stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).

   The police intercepted the package of stolen goods while it was in transit.

3. 3
   noun

   The coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.

   The y intercept.

4. 4
   noun

   the point at which a line intersects a coordinate axis

Simplified etymology

Intercept dates from late Middle English and ultimately derives from Latin capere ‘take or hold’; its literal sense is ‘take between’.

Borrowed from Latin interceptum, past participle of intercipiō.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary