Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Infectious.
  • adjective Attractive; catchy.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Communicating, or liable to be communicated, by contagion; infectious.
  • Captivating; charming; attracting: as, a catching melody; a catching manner.
  • Acquisitive; greedy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Infectious; contagious.
  • adjective Captivating; alluring.
  • noun The act of seizing or taking hold of.
  • noun (Law) a bargain made with an heir expectant for the purchase of his expectancy at an inadequate price.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of catch.
  • noun The action of the verb catch.
  • adjective informal contagious

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun becoming infected
  • adjective (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection
  • noun the act of detecting something; catching sight of something
  • noun (baseball) playing the position of catcher on a baseball team

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word catching.

Examples

  • Marisela stepped back, the use of her name catching her off guard.

    Dirty Little Lies Julie Leto 2006

  • Marisela stepped back, the use of her name catching her off guard.

    Dirty Little Lies Julie Leto 2006

  • “Kivar,” Simon said raggedly, the word catching in his throat.

    My Demon's Kiss Lucy Blue 2005

  • “Kivar,” Simon said raggedly, the word catching in his throat.

    My Demon's Kiss Lucy Blue 2005

  • “Kivar,” Simon said raggedly, the word catching in his throat.

    My Demon's Kiss Lucy Blue 2005

  • Such is the life of a columnist with a value-investing bias; you always have the phrase "catching a falling knife" at the ready when writing.

    The Globe and Mail - Home RSS feed DAVID MILSTEAD 2011

  • "It doesn't sound so overwhelming or scary," said Christian Sinclair, associate medical director at Kansas City Hospice and editor of the Pallimed blog, who sees the term catching on.

    NYT > Home Page By PAULA SPAN 2010

  • "That's what we call catching a crab in our country," said the woman.

    Frank Mildmay The Naval Officer Frederick Marryat 1820

  • "That's what we calls catching a crab in our country," said the woman.

    Frank Mildmay Or, The Naval Officer Frederick Marryat 1820

  • Judging by his record in "catching" Gary Ridgeway, it'll take him another two decades to discover the culprit of globabl warming.

    Sound Politics: Game Time in the Reichert v. Burner Race 2006

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.