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 ]

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 ]

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 ]

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 ]