Search the Dictionary

The oyster catcher.

a fusca of Europe and America, which is commonly enslaved by Formica sanguinea. -- Slave catcher, one who attempted to catch and bring back a fugitive slave to his master. -- Slave coast, part of the western coast of Africa to which slaves were brought to be sold to foreigners. -- Slave driver, one who superintends…

Infectious; catching. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.] H. Kingsley.

To make an effort to bite; to aim to seize with the teeth; to catch eagerly (at anything); -- often with at; as, a dog snapsat a passenger; a fish snaps at the bait.

To catch with a snare; to insnare; to entangle; hence, to bring into unexpected evil, perplexity, or danger. Lest that too heavenly form . . . snare them. Milton. The mournful crocodile With sorrow snares relenting passengers. Shak.

To attempt to seize something suddenly; to catch; -- often with at; as, to snatch at a rope.

To laugh with audible catches of voice, as when persons attempt to suppress loud laughter.

To catch, as an eel, by sniggling; hence, to hook; to insnare. Beau & Fl.

he genus Myadestes. They are noted their sweet songs and retiring habits. Called also fly-catching thrush. A West Indian species (Myadestes sibilans) is called the invisible bird.

A net for catching crabs. Halliwell.

A kind of catchfly (Silene inflata) which is sometimes frothy from the action of captured insects.

A noose fastened to an elastic body, and drawn close with a sudden spring, whereby it catches a bird or other animal; a gin; a snare. As a woodcock to mine own springe. Shak.

To stray; to wander; to rope. [Obs.] A maid thitherward did run, To catch her sparrow which from her did swerve. Sir P. Sidney.

To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken.

Something used for taking hold or holding; a catch; a loop; a button. [Obs.] Ex. xxvi. 6.

The end, or catchword, of an actor's speech; cue.

nest parts . . . took up their rest in the Christian religion." Addison. (g) To seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a thief; to take up vagabonds. (h) To admit; to believe; to receive. [Obs.] The ancients took up experiments upon credit. Bacon.

One who takes or receives; one who catches or apprehended.

of animals of the sheep and ox kinds. Tallow candle, a candle made of tallow. -- Tallow catch, a keech. See Keech. [Obs.] -- Tallow chandler, one whose occupation is to make, or to sell, tallow candles. -- Tallow chandlery, the trade of a tallow chandler; also, the place where his business is carried on. -- Tallow…

A person of a keen, irritable temper. To catch a tartar, to lay hold of, or encounter, a person who proves too strong for the assailant. [Colloq.]