catch

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kætʃ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English cacchen (“to chase, catch”),^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman cachier (“to catch, capture (animals); to chase, hunt”), an Old North French variant of Old French chacier (modern chasser),^[4][2][5] from Vulgar Latin *captiāre (“to try to seize, chase”),^[4][2] an alteration of Latin captāre (“to try to catch, chase”), the frequentative of capere (“to take, seize”),^[4][2][3] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[4] It is a doublet of chase.^[4][2] The noun is from the verb.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

To capture, ensnare, receive, chase: probably before 1200, in Layamon's Brut and the Ancrene Riwle,^[2] about 1200 in Etymonline.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Early Middle English senses included “to chase”, which later went with chase.^[4] Catch took over the sense “to seize” from the native latch, Old English læccan, together with its past forms: caught was modelled on laught.^[5] Of sleep it is from the early 14th century, of infections from the 1540s, and of fire from 1734.^[4] Catch the eye is by 1718,^[4] the baseball catcher's role from 1865,^[4] and catch on, “to understand”, by 1884, colloquial American English.^[4] The noun meant a device holding a door latch, or a trap, in the late 14th century,^[4] the number of fish caught at once from 1465,^[6] and that which is worth catching, later especially a spouse, from the 1590s.^[4] In music a catch is a round, from the 17th century.^[5] The sense “hidden snag” is slang first found in 1855, in P. T. Barnum.^[4]

Timeline

• before 1200 – to capture, chase.^[2]
• late 14th century – noun, a catch on a door.^[4]
• 1465 – a catch of fish.^[6]
• 1540s – to catch an infection.^[4]
• 1590s – something worth catching.^[4]
• 1718 – catch the eye.^[4]
• 1734 – to catch fire.^[4]
• 1855 – a hidden snag.^[4]
• 1884 – catch on.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To take hold of something moving; to grasp or seize.
2. To capture or trap, as an animal or a criminal.
3. To discover or come upon suddenly: caught them stealing.
4. To reach in time: catch a train.
5. To become infected with: catch a cold.
6. To hear or understand: I didn't catch your name.
7. To become entangled or hooked; of fire, to start burning.

Noun

1. The act of catching, especially a ball.
2. Something caught, especially the amount of fish caught at once.
3. A device for fastening, such as a latch on a door.
4. A hidden snag or drawback.
5. A person considered a desirable partner.
6. (music) A round for three or more voices.

Word family

• catchable
• bycatch
• Catch-22
• catchline
• catchy
• catch crop
• fair catch
• safety catch

Related words

• chase
• capture
• captive
• latch
• ketch
• catcher

Usage notes

The past tense and past participle are caught, while catched is now dialect and non-standard.^[7] A separate noun catch, a strongly built two-masted boat, is from the 15th century and is a variant of ketch.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press