Part 113

2. To be held or impeded by entanglement or a light obstruction; as, a kite catches in a tree; a door catches so as not to open.

3. To take hold; as, the bolt does not catch.

4. To spread by, or as by, infecting; to communicate.

Does the sedition catch from man to man? Addison.

To catch at, to attempt to seize; to be eager to get or use. " catch at all opportunities of subverting the state." Addison. -- To catch up with, to come up with; to overtake.

Catch, n. 1. Act of seizing; a grasp. Sir P. Sidney.

2. That by which anything is caught or temporarily fastened; as, the catch of a gate.

3. The posture of seizing; a state of preparation to lay hold of, or of watching he opportunity to seize; as, to lie on the catch. [Archaic] Addison.

The common and the canon law . . . lie at catch, and wait advantages one againt another. T. Fuller.

4. That which is caught or taken; profit; gain; especially, the whole quantity caught or taken at one time; as, a good catch of fish.

Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out either of your brains. Shak.

5. Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony. [Colloq.] Marryat.

6. pl. Passing opportunities seized; snatches.

It has been writ by catches with many intervals. Locke.

7. A slight remembrance; a trace.

We retain a catch of those pretty stories. Glanvill.

8. (Mus.) A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words.

Catch"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being caught. [R.]

Catch"-ba`sin (?), n. A cistern or vault at the point where a street gutter discharges into a sewer, to catch bulky matters which would not pass readily through the sewer. Knight.

Catch"drain` (?), n. A ditch or drain along the side of a hill to catch the surface water; also, a ditch at the side of a canal to catch the surplus water.

Catch"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, catches.

2. (Baseball) The player who stands behind the batsman to catch the ball.

Catch"fly (?), n. (Bot.) A plant with the joints of the stem, and sometimes other parts, covered with a viscid secretion to which small insects adhere. The species of Silene are examples of the catchfly.

Catch"ing a. 1. Infectious; contagious.

2. Captivating; alluring.

Catch"ing, n. The act of seizing or taking hold of.

Catching bargain (Law), a bargain made with an heir expectant for the purchase of his expectancy at an inadequate price. Bouvier.

Catch"-mead`ow (?), n. A meadow irrigated by water from a spring or rivulet on the side of hill.