Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Nautical A two-masted fore-and-aft-rigged sailing vessel with a mizzenmast stepped aft of a taller mainmast but forward of the rudder.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An obsolete or dialectal form of catch.
- n. A small, strongly built, twomasted vessel, usually of from 100 to 250 tons burden, but sometimes of less. Ketches were formerly much used as bomb-vessels, the peculiarity of the rig affording ample space forward of the mainmast and at the greatest beam. See
bomb-keteh . - n. A variant of keech.
Wiktionary
- n. A fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
- v. Eye dialect spelling of catch..
- v. To hang.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An almost obsolete form of sailing vessel, with a mainmast and a mizzenmast, -- usually from one hundred to two hundred and fifty tons burden.
- n. In modern usage, a sailing vessel having two masts, with the main mast taller than the aftermost, or mizzen, mast.
- n. A hangman. See jack ketch.
- v. To catch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a sailing vessel with two masts; the mizzen is forward of the rudderpost
Etymologies
- Middle English cache, from cacchen, to catch; see catch.
Examples
“Yes, Madam Budd, yes; we have them sort of catches, too; but I now mean the vessel with a peculiar rig, which we call a ketch, you know.”
“A few years later, however, Prince Rupert and some other prominent members of the court and the city bought the third-hand forty-three-ton ketch, the "Nonsuch", and borrowed the fifty-four-ton "Eaglet" ketch from the King.”
“A small vessel known as a ketch had recently been captured from the”
“A small vessel known as a ketch had recently been captured from the Tripolitans, and Decatur selected this in which to make the venture.”
American Men of Action
“In response, the pilot of the ketch answered, that the ketch was a coaster from Malta, that she had lost her anchors in the late gale, and had been nearly wrecked, and that she now asked permission to ride by the frigate during the night.”
“A small vessel known as a ketch had been recently captured from the Tripolitans by Decatur, and this prize was now named the Intrepid, and assigned to him for the work he had in hand.”
“Billingsgate: the ships begin opposite the Tower: two or three great three-masted vessels are shown: and two or three smaller ships of the kind called ketch, sloop, or hoy.”
“A ketch is a two-masted craft, Master Geoffrey," John Lirriper said.”
By England's Aid Or, the Freeing of the Netherlands, 1585-1604
“A ketch is a sort of ship, father, though I don't quite know what sort of ship.”
By England's Aid Or, the Freeing of the Netherlands, 1585-1604
“What on most ranches in the Southwest is called a ketch (catch) rope is a reata in Mexican Spanish.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ketch’.
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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rastafari
dem woodz assoseeated wit da reegae mon..
( Reggae, Rastafari, Rasta, Jamaica, Zion, Haile Selassie, Africa, Caribbean )
( slang, randomness )Rastafari, puff, Jah, reggae, Haile Selassie, Jamaica, Kingston, Caribbean, Dominican, Zion, Africa, cannabis and 79 more...
chained_bear See also Jack Ketch. Sep 12, 2008