. (Naut.) A detail of one or more men who keep watch on deck at night when a vessel is at anchor. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ OE. bache, bacche, fr. AS. bacan to bake; cf. G. gebäck and D. baksel. See Bake, v. t. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The quantity of bread baked at one time. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A quantity of anything produced at one operation; a group or collection of persons or things of the same kind; as, a batch of letters; the next batch of business. “A new batch of Lords.” Lady M. W. Montagu. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

v. t. To tear with the nails; to cover with scratches. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ or or . A fuse used in blasting, consisting of a long cylinder of explosive material inclosed in a varnished wrapping of rope or hose. It burns from 2 to 4 feet a minute. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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. to watch birds, especially in their natural habitats, for enjoyment or as a hobby; to bird{ 3 }. [ PJC ]

n. one who enjoys watching birds, especially to find and identify a variety of birds in their natural habitats; a birder{ 2 }. [ PJC ]

n. [ Sc. also bratchart; fr. ME. brachet, fr. OF. brachet; ML. brachetus, dim. of brache a hound. See brach. ] a kind of hound; a brach; -- applied contemptuously to a child. See also brach. [ Also spelled brachet. ] [ Century Dict. 1906 ]

The bratchet's bay
From the dark covert drove the prey. Scott, (Marmion, ii. int.). [ Century Dict. 1906 ]

To be plagued with a bratchet whelp -- Whence came ye, my fair-favoured little gossip? . Scott, (Kenilworth, II. xxi). [ Century Dict. 1906 ]

n. A sound like the cry of a cat, such as is made in playhouses to express dissatisfaction with a play; also, a small shrill instrument for making such a noise. [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon the rising of the curtain. I was very much surprised with the great consort of catcalls which was exhibited. Addison. [ 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. ]

{ , n. [ Probably of East Indian origin, because it was originally a kind of East Indian pickles. Cf. also Malay k&ebreve_;chap fish sauce. MW10. ] A pureed table sauce made predominantly from tomatoes, flavored with onions, sugar, salt and spices; called also tomato ketchup. The term is also applied to pureed sauces containing mushrooms, walnuts, etc., being called in such cases mushroom ketchup, walnut ketchup, etc. [ Written also ketchup. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Scot. clatch a slap, the noise caused by the collision of soft bodies; prob. of imitative origin. ] (Scot. & Dial. Eng.) 1. A soft or sloppy lump or mass; as, to throw a clatch of mud. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. Anything put together or made in a careless or slipshod way; hence, a sluttish or slipshod woman. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. & i. To daub or smear, as with lime; to make or finish in a slipshod way. [ Scot. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A cockfight. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ OE. cracche, crecche, F. crèche crib, manger, fr. OHG. krippa, krippea, G. krippe crib. See Crib. ] A manger or open frame for hay; a crib; a rack. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Begin from first where He encradled was,
In simple cratch, wrapt in a wad of hay. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cratch cradle, a representation of the figure of the cratch, made upon the fingers with a string; cat's cradle; -- called also scratch cradle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To shade by means of crosshatching. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. In drawing and line engraving, shading with lines that cross one another at an angle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. to match items from two or more lists. [ PJC ]

n. An ill-natured person. [ Colloq. ] “Crosspatch, draw the latch.” Mother Goose. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A kind of latch whose bolt may be so locked by a detent that it can not be opened from the inside by the handle, or from the outside by the latch key. Knight. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) (a) A small beetle (Anobium tessellatum and other allied species). By forcibly striking its head against woodwork it makes a ticking sound, which is a call of the sexes to each other, but has been imagined by superstitious people to presage death. (b) A small wingless insect, of the family Psocidæ, which makes a similar but fainter sound; -- called also deathtick. [ 1913 Webster ]

She is always seeing apparitions and hearing deathwatches. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

I did not hear the dog howl, mother, or the deathwatch beat. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The guard set over a criminal before his execution. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. & v. Same as Dispatch. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dispatched p. pr. & vb. n. Dispatching. ] [ OF. despeechier, F. dépêcher; prob. from pref. des- (L. dis-) + (assumed) LL. pedicare to place obstacles in the way, fr. L. pedica fetter, fr. pes, pedis, foot. See Foot, and cf. Impeach, Despatch. ] [ Written also despatch. ] 1. To dispose of speedily, as business; to execute quickly; to make a speedy end of; to finish; to perform. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ere we put ourselves in arms, dispatch we
The business we have talked of. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ The ] harvest men . . . almost in one fair day dispatcheth all the harvest work. Robynson (More's Utopia). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To rid; to free. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

I had clean dispatched myself of this great charge. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To get rid of by sending off; to send away hastily. [ 1913 Webster ]

Unless dispatched to the mansion house in the country . . . they perish among the lumber of garrets. Walpole. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To send off or away; -- particularly applied to sending off messengers, messages, letters, etc., on special business, and implying haste. [ 1913 Webster ]

Even with the speediest expedition
I will dispatch him to the emperor's cou&unr_;&unr_;. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To send out of the world; to put to death. [ 1913 Webster ]

The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. Ezek. xxiii. 47.

Syn. -- To expedite; hasten; speed; accelerate; perform; conclude; finish; slay; kill. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To make haste; to conclude an affair; to finish a matter of business. [ 1913 Webster ]

They have dispatched with Pompey. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]