chase

Chase, to pursue, and chase, to engrave metal, are different words, both ultimately from Latin capere “to take”.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /tʃeɪs/^[4]

chase¹ pursue

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English chacen, chasen, borrowed from Old French chacier (“to hunt, catch”),^[5][1][3] from Vulgar Latin *captiāre,^[5][1] from Latin captāre “to try to catch”, a frequentative of capere “to take”,^[5][2] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[5] The Old French word is a variant of cachier, so that chase is a doublet of catch.^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

To hunt, or to put to flight: about 1300 in Etymonline, probably before 1300 in Barnhart.^[5][1] The noun, a hunt, is from about 1250 in Barnhart, the mid-13th century in Etymonline, 1297 in the OED.^[1][5][6]

Semantic evolution

To run after for any purpose is by the mid-14th century.^[5][1] In Middle English chase also meant “to persecute”, as words for “pursue” often do.^[5] The pursuit of an enemy is from the early 14th century,^[5][6] and the pastime of hunting, the chase, from about 1330.^[6][5] A tract of land kept for hunting is from about 1460.^[6][5] In naval warfare, the pursuit of a ship is from 1634,^[6] and in jazz, an exchange of solos from 1942.^[6] A chaser, a mild drink taken after strong liquor, is American from 1897.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – noun, a hunt.^[1]
• c. 1300 – verb, to hunt.^[5]
• mid-14th century – to run after.^[5]
• c. 1460 – a hunting ground.^[6]
• 1897 – chaser, a drink.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To run after someone or something in order to catch them.
2. To make someone or something go away: chase off.
3. To try hard to get something: chase a dream.
4. To hurry somewhere.

Noun

1. The act of chasing someone or something; a pursuit.
2. the chase: hunting as a sport.
3. (British) An area of open land once kept for hunting.

chase² engrave

Etymology

It is a shortening of enchase,^[1][2] from Middle French enchâsser “to set gems, enclose”,^[1][3] from en- “in” and châsse “case, setting”, from Latin capsa “box”.^[1] It is related to case.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

To engrave or emboss metal: 1414 in Barnhart, 1438 in the OED.^[1][6]

Semantic evolution

To set gems is from 1536–40.^[6]

Timeline

• 1414 – to engrave metal.^[1]
• 1536–40 – to set gems.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To decorate metal by engraving or embossing.

Related words

• chaser
• catch
• enchase
• case

Usage notes

A third chase is a groove cut in an object (1610s), the bore of a gun (1640s), and in printing the frame in which type is locked, from French chas “enclosure”.^[5][2][3] In East Anglian dialect, a chase is a green lane leading to a farm.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)