interception

Pronunciation

• US: /ɪntɚˈsɛpʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin interceptiō (“a seizing, taking away”),^[2][3][4][5] a noun of action from interceptus, the past participle of intercipiō (“to take or seize between, to intercept”).^[3][4][2] The Latin verb is formed from inter- (“between”) and capiō (“to take, seize”),^[3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *kap- (“to grasp”).^[3][6] The OED compares French interception, used in the 16th century by Paré,^[2] and Merriam-Webster takes the English word from Middle French or Latin.^[7] It is the noun of the verb intercept, recorded from about 1400.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In medicine, the interruption of the flow of the bodily humours: 1598, in a translation of Guillemeau's Frenche Chirurgerye.^[2][8][3] The Shorter Oxford dates this sense to late Middle English,^[5] and Merriam-Webster gives a first known use in the 15th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The medical sense died out in the 17th century, the OED's last record being from 1661.^[2][8] The general sense, the act of seizing or stopping a person or thing on the way, is recorded from 1611, and the cutting off of something in its course, especially of light, from 1624, in Wotton's Elements of Architecture;^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the word as "stoppage in course; hindrance; obstruction" and quoted the same passage of Wotton.^[9] In sport, gaining the ball while the other side is passing it is recorded from 1888 in a New Zealand newspaper,^[2][8] and Etymonline dates the football and rugby sense to 1897.^[3] The military sense, closing in on an enemy aircraft or missile to destroy it, dates from 1939 in Etymonline, but from 1941 in the OED.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1598 – medicine: the interruption of the flow of the humours (obsolete by 1661).^[2][8]
• 1611 – the act of seizing or stopping a person or thing on the way.^[2][8]
• 1624 – the cutting off of something in its course, especially of light.^[2][8]
• 1665 – the enclosing of something between points or lines (rare).^[2]
• 1888 – sport: gaining control of the ball while it is being passed.^[2][8]
• 1939 – the closing in on an enemy aircraft to destroy it.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of intercepting something, or the state of being intercepted: the interception of a shipment of forged banknotes.^[6][7][2]
2. Something that is intercepted, such as an aircraft, a missile or a radio transmission.^[6]
3. In sport, a pass caught or gained by a player of the opposing side, especially a forward pass in American football.^[6][2]
4. In hydrology, the process by which falling precipitation is slowed or kept from reaching the ground, as by leaves.^[6]
5. (obsolete, 1598–1661) In medicine, the interruption of the flow of the bodily humours.^[2][5][8]

Related words

• intercept
• interceptor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.