catcher

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. One that catches, especially the baseball player positioned behind home plate who signals for and receives pitches.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A chaser; a hunter.
2. n. One who catches; that which catches, or in which anything is caught.
3. n. Specifically— In base-ball and similar games, the player who stands behind the bat or home-base to catch the ball when pitched. See base-ball. In mining: An arrangement to prevent overwinding, or raising the cage too high as it comes out of the shaft. Also, in Leicestershire, England, the equivalent of cage-shuts (which see). In general, any arrangement at the mouth of the shaft, or on the pump, by means of which accidents may be prevented in case a part of the machinery gives way. plural In ornithology, the raptorial birds, or birds of prey: a term translating Captantes, one of the names of the order.
4. n. One who sings catches.

Wiktionary

1. n. Someone or something that catches.
2. n. baseball The player that squats behind home plate and receives the pitches from the pitcher
3. n. (colloquial) The submissive partner in a homosexual relationship or sexual encounter between two men.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, catches.
2. n. (Baseball) The player who stands behind the batsman to catch the ball.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the position on a baseball team of the player who is stationed behind home plate and who catches the balls that the pitcher throws
2. n. (baseball) the person who plays the position of catcher