n. A small flat curl worn on the temple by women. [ Humorous ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One whose employment it is to catch birds; a fowler. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The art, act, or occupation or catching birds or wild fowls. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Caught i>or Catched p. pr. & vb. n. Catching. Catched is rarely used. ] [ OE. cacchen, OF. cachier, dialectic form of chacier to hunt, F. chasser, fr. (assumend) LL. captiare, for L. capture, V. intens. of capere to take, catch. See Capacious, and cf. Chase, Case a box. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To lay hold on; to seize, especially with the hand; to grasp (anything) in motion, with the effect of holding; as, to catch a ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief. “They pursued . . . and caught him.” Judg. i. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as, to catch a bird or fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Hence: To insnare; to entangle. “To catch him in his words”. Mark xii. 13. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to catch a melody. “Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I catch the issue.” Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the adjoining building. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To engage and attach; to please; to charm. [ 1913 Webster ]

The soothing arts that catch the fair. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To get possession of; to attain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Torment myself to catch the English throne. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To take or receive; esp. to take by sympathy, contagion, infection, or exposure; as, to catch the spirit of an occasion; to catch the measles or smallpox; to catch cold; the house caught fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. To come upon unexpectedly or by surprise; to find; as, to catch one in the act of stealing. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. To reach in time; to come up with; as, to catch a train. [ 1913 Webster ]

To catch fire, to become inflamed or ignited. --
to catch it to get a scolding or beating; to suffer punishment. [ Colloq. ] --
To catch one's eye, to interrupt captiously while speaking. [ Colloq. ] “You catch me up so very short.” Dickens. --
To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To attain possession. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Have is have, however men do catch. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To take hold; as, the bolt does not catch. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To spread by, or as by, infecting; to communicate. [ 1913 Webster ]

Does the sedition catch from man to man? Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

To catch at, to attempt to seize; to be eager to get or use. “[ To ] catch at all opportunities of subverting the state.” Addison. --
To catch up with, to come up with; to overtake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Act of seizing; a grasp. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That by which anything is caught or temporarily fastened; as, the catch of a gate. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The common and the canon law . . . lie at catch, and wait advantages one againt another. T. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hector shall have a great catch if he knock out either of your brains. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Something desirable to be caught, esp. a husband or wife in matrimony. [ Colloq. ] Marryat. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. pl. Passing opportunities seized; snatches. [ 1913 Webster ]

It has been writ by catches with many intervals. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A slight remembrance; a trace. [ 1913 Webster ]

We retain a catch of those pretty stories. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Mus.) A humorous canon or round, so contrived that the singers catch up each other's words. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being caught. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

. Any crop grown between the rows of another crop or intermediate between two crops in ordinary rotation in point of time. -- Catch"-crop`ping, n.

Radishes . . . are often grown as a catch crop with other vegetables. L. H. Bailey. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, catches. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Baseball) The player who stands behind the batsman to catch the ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Infectious; contagious. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Captivating; alluring. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of seizing or taking hold of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Catching bargain (Law), a bargain made with an heir expectant for the purchase of his expectancy at an inadequate price. Bouvier. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A meadow irrigated by water from a spring or rivulet on the side of hill. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A surface of ground on which water may be caught and collected into a reservoir. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made or contrived for getting small sums of money from the ignorant or unwary; as, a catchpenny book; a catchpenny show. -- n. Some worthless catchpenny thing. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. chacepol, chacipol. ] A bailiff's assistant.

. A short expressive title used for abbreviated book lists, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A ditch or drain for catching water. See Catchdrain. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) See Cleavers. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. (Horseracing) Without any additional weight; without being handicapped; as, to ride catchweight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Among theatrical performers, the last word of the preceding speaker, which reminds one that he is to speak next; cue. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Print.) The first word of any page of a book after the first, inserted at the right hand bottom corner of the preceding page for the assistance of the reader. It is seldom used in modern printing. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A word or phrase caught up and repeated for effect; as, the catchword of a political party, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A work or artificial water-course for throwing water on lands that lie on the slopes of hills; a catchdrain. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Apt or tending to catch the fancy or attention; catching; taking; as, catchy music. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Tending to catch or insnare; entangling; -- usually used fig.; as, a catchy question. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

3. Consisting of, or occuring in, disconnected parts or snatches; changeable; as, a catchy wind. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

It [ the fox's scent ] is . . . flighty or catchy, if variable. Encyc. of Sport. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. To deceive; to cheat; to trick. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Take heed, Signor Baptista, lest you be cony-catched in the this business. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A cheat; a sharper; a deceiver. [ Obs. ] Minsheu. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A strong inclined frame, usually of wrought-iron bars, in front of a locomotive engine, for catching or throwing off obstructions on a railway, as cattle; the pilot. [ U.S. ]
Syn. -- fender, buffer, pilot. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An object or person that seizes the attention; as, her Statue of Liberty outfit was an eye-catcher.
Syn. -- attention-getter. [ PJC ]

adj. Seizing the attention; as, eye-catching posters; as, she wore an eye-catching low-cut gown.
Syn. -- attention-getting. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

. (Football) A catch made by a player on side who makes a prescribed signal that he will not attempt to advance the ball when caught. He must not then be interfered with. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Zool.) One of numerous species of birds that feed upon insects, which they take on the wing. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The true flycatchers of the Old World are Oscines, and belong to the family Muscicapidæ, as the spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola). The American flycatchers, or tyrant flycatchers, are Clamatores, and belong to the family Tyrannidæ, as the kingbird, pewee, crested flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus), and the vermilion flycatcher or churinche (Pyrocephalus rubineus). Certain American flycatching warblers of the family Sylvicolidæ are also called flycatchers, as the Canadian flycatcher (Sylvania Canadensis), and the hooded flycatcher (S. mitrata). See Tyrant flycatcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Zool.) Having the habit of catching insects on the wing. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To overtake. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.), Any one of several species of wading birds of the genus Haematopus having stout legs and bill and mostly black-and-white plumage, which frequent seashores and feed upon oysters and other shellfish. The European species (Haematopus ostralegus), the common American species (Haematopus palliatus), and the California, or black, oyster catcher (Haematopus Bachmani) are the best known.
Syn. -- oyster plover. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. escache. ] A kind of bit for the bridle of a horse; -- called also scatchmouth. Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. pl. [ OF. eschaces, F. échasses, fr. D. schaats a high-heeled shoe, a skate. See Skate, for the foot. ] Stilts. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Russ. siekach. ] (Zool.) A full-grown male fur seal. [ Alaska ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

. A small fast vessel for pursuing and destroying torpedo boats. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. One who cavils at words. [ 1913 Webster ]