to catch
- verb
- /kæʧ/
- The truck lurches to a stop, its frame caught on a big rock.
So the wind gets caught in it, but it still falls down.
- So the wind gets caught in it, but it still falls down.
- Wrestlers often get caught with chokeholds, arm bars.
Examples
-
He accidentally got his jacket caught on the fence while climbing over it.
-
At Fort Jefferson, three soldiers are caught trying to desert.
-
Herbert had died, caught in the factory machinery.
-
Suppose that one day a chicken bone has caught in your throat and you can't catch your breath.
Academic text (1993) -
Perhaps the bats were killed after being caught in the wind vortex created by the turbines.
Academic text (2008) -
She was careful not to let her hair get caught in the door when it closed.
-
The cat got its paw caught in the old fence and needed help to get free.
Synonyms
To catch something, often by using a trap or a trick
To trap someone or something, often by a trick when they are in a difficult situation
To catch something so it becomes stuck briefly
To catch something in a net or trap so it cannot move
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
To become very sick from being outside in the cold, often said as a warning
- Offensive
To find a dead person, often during police work or as slang for killing someone
- Informal
To not pay attention and miss what is happening around you, for example because you are daydreaming
- Informal
Notice someone being careless when they should be paying attention
Give something small to get something much bigger later
Phrasal Verbs
Compounds
- Specialized
A player signals and catches a punt without running and cannot be tackled
- Specialized
Animals and other sea life that are caught by accident while people fish for other species
A 2002 American film by Steven Spielberg starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks
- Specialized
A small fenced area that holds animals like sheep or cattle for a short time
- Specialized
A quick sound made by briefly closing and opening the vocal cords before a vowel
- Jargon
A baseball play where an outfielder runs and grabs a ball very close to the ground
How Stuck
Surface Forms
Etymology
Catch originally meant 'to trap' or 'hold', so it also came to mean getting stuck on something, like your sweater catching on a nail.