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Added 3 October 2026

catch

/kæt͡ʃ/ noun

In Latin: captūra Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about catch at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

The act of seizing or capturing.
The catch of the perpetrator was the product of a year of police work.
The act of catching an object in motion, especially a ball.
The player made an impressive catch.
The act of noticing, understanding or hearing.
Good catch. I never would have remembered that.

verb

To capture, overtake. To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape). .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
I hope I catch a fish.
To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape). .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
I hope I catch a fish.
To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive.

Origin

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. Via PIE cognate with have. Displaced Middle English fangen ("to catch"; > Modern English fang (verb)), from Old English fōn (“to seize, take”); Middle English lacchen ("to catch" and heavily displaced Modern English latch), from Old English læċċan.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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