Catching

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Catch \Catch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Caught}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.
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     2. To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief.
        "They pursued . . . and caught him." --Judg. i. 6.
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     3. To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as,
        to catch a bird or fish.
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     4. Hence: To insnare; to entangle. "To catch him in his
        words". --Mark xii. 13.
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     5. To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to
        catch a melody. "Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I catch the
        issue." --Tennyson.
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     6. To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the
        adjoining building.
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     7. To engage and attach; to please; to charm.
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              The soothing arts that catch the fair. --Dryden.
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     8. To get possession of; to attain.
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              Torment myself to catch the English throne. --Shak.
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     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.
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     10. To come upon unexpectedly or by surprise; to find; as, to
         catch one in the act of stealing.
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     11. To reach in time; to come up with; as, to catch a train.
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     {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.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Catching \Catch"ing\ a.
     1. Infectious; contagious.
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     2. Captivating; alluring.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Catching \Catch"ing\, n.
     The act of seizing or taking hold of.
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     {Catching bargain} (Law), a bargain made with an heir
        expectant for the purchase of his expectancy at an
        inadequate price. --Bouvier.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  catching
       adj : (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection [syn:
              {communicable}, {contagious}, {contractable}, {transmissible},
              {transmittable}]
       n 1: (baseball) playing the position of catcher on a baseball
            team
       2: the act of detecting something; catching sight of something
          [syn: {detection}, {espial}, {spying}, {spotting}]
       3: becoming infected; "catching cold is sometimes unavoidable";
          "the contracting of a serious illness can be financially
          catastrophic" [syn: {contracting}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  97 Moby Thesaurus words for "catching":
     alluring, annexational, appealing, appetizing, attractive,
     beguiling, bewitching, blandishing, cajoling, captivating,
     charismatic, charming, coaxing, come-hither, communicable,
     confiscatory, contagious, coquettish, deadly, deprivative,
     destructive, enchanting, endemic, engaging, enravishing,
     enthralling, enticing, entrancing, envenomed, epidemial, epidemic,
     epiphytotic, epizootic, exciting, exotic, expropriatory,
     fascinating, fetching, flirtatious, glamorous, hypnotic,
     infectious, infective, inoculable, interesting, intriguing,
     inviting, irresistible, malign, malignant, mephitic, mesmeric,
     miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, mouth-watering, noxious, pandemic,
     pestiferous, pestilential, piquant, poisonous, prepossessing,
     privative, provocative, provoquant, ravishing, seducing, seductive,
     siren, sirenic, spellbinding, spellful, sporadic, spreading,
     taking, tantalizing, teasing, tempting, thievish, tickling,
     titillating, titillative, toxic, toxicant, toxiferous,
     transmissible, transmittable, venenate, veneniferous, venenous,
     venomous, virulent, winning, winsome, witching, zymotic