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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. 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

  1. n. An obsolete or dialectal form of catch.
  2. 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.
  3. n. A variant of keech.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
  2. v. Eye dialect spelling of catch..
  3. v. rare To hang.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Naut.) An almost obsolete form of sailing vessel, with a mainmast and a mizzenmast, -- usually from one hundred to two hundred and fifty tons burden.
  2. n. (Naut.) In modern usage, a sailing vessel having two masts, with the main mast taller than the aftermost, or mizzen, mast.
  3. n. A hangman. See jack ketch.
  4. v. Now obs. in spelling, and colloq. in pronunciation. To catch.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a sailing vessel with two masts; the mizzen is forward of the rudderpost

Etymologies

  1. From Jack Ketch, a hangman of the 17th century. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English cache, from cacchen, to catch; see catch. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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.”

    Jack Tier

  • “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.”

    Three Hundred Years

  • “A small vessel known as a ketch had recently been captured from the”

    American Men of Action

  • “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.”

    The Naval History of the United States Volume 1 (of 2)

  • “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.”

    Hero Tales from American History

  • “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.”

    The History of London

  • “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.”

    Verbatim: VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol XVIII No 4

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synonyms (1)

Words with the same meaning

  1. catch

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. sailing vessel
  1. sailing ship

same context (15)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. b'lieve
  2. Stan
  3. felucca
  1. hep
  2. longboat
  3. pinnace
  1. bonnier
  2. do't
  3. fergit
  1. fireship
  2. men-of-war
  3. hol
  1. jedge
  2. 'ave
  3. foller

rhymes (7)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. etch
  1. fetch
  1. kvetch
  1. meche
  1. outstretch
  1. sketch
  1. stretch

reverse dictionary (17)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. mortar-ketch
  2. catch
  3. bombard
  1. ketch
  2. press-ketch
  3. saic
  1. bomb ketch
  2. dogger
  3. yawl
  1. jigger mast
  2. bomb
  3. mizen
  1. mizenmast
  2. mizzen
  3. mizzenmast
  1. mortar boat
  2. galiot

tags (5)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. nautical
  1. ship
  1. maritime
  1. gallows
  1. behead

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‘ketch’ has been looked up 2166 times, loved by 1 person, added to 22 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 14.