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or Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. If the season be unkindly and intemperate, they [peppers] will catch a blast; and then the seeds will be deaf, void, light, and naught. Holland. Deaf and dumb, without the sense of hearing or the faculty of speech. See Deaf-mute.

To take unwares or by surprise; to seize, as a person commiting an unlawful act; to catch; to apprehend. The deprehended adulteress.Jer. Taylor.

A catching; discovery. [Obs.] Bp. Hall.

That which locks or unlocks a movement; a catch, pawl, or dog; especially, in clockwork, the catch which locks and unlocks the wheelwork in striking.

haped object (called the diabolo) so as to balance it on a string, toss it in the air and catch it, etc.

Set with lines of prominent type interspersed, to catch the eye.

A piece in machinery acting as a catch or clutch; especially, the carrier of a lathe, also, an adjustable stop to change motion, as in a machine tool.

me and easily taken, and is popularly believed to imitate the movements of the fowler. In catching of dotterels we see how the foolish bird playeth the ape in gestures. Bacon.

A net for catching the larger sorts of birds; also, a dragnet. Crabb.

To catch or gather with a dredge; to deepen with a dredging machine. R. Carew. Dredging machine, a machine (commonly on a boat) used to scoop up mud, gravel, or obstructions from the bottom of rivers, docks, etc., so as to deepen them.

The crab plover (Dromas ardeola), a peculiar North African bird, allied to the oyster catcher.

course of slates a little, or to receive the lowest course of tiles; -- called also eaves catch and eaves lath. -- Eaves channel, Eaves gutter, Eaves trough. Same as Gutter,

A boxlike structure with funnel-shaped traps for catching eels; an eelbuck.

e; any device or contrivance; an agent. Shak. You see the ways the fisherman doth take To catch the fish; what engines doth he make Bunyan. Their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust. Shak.

To catch or entangle in, or as in, meshes. Shak. My doubts enmesh me if I try. Lowell.

To catch in a snare. See Insnare.

To catch in a trap; to insnare; hence, to catch, as in a trap, by artifices; to involve in difficulties or distresses; to catch or involve in contradictions; as, to be entrapped by the devices of evil men. A golden mesh, to entrap the hearts of men. Shak.

To catch sight of; to perceive with the eyes; to discover, as a distant object partly concealed, or not obvious to notice; to see at a glance; to discern unexpectedly; to spy; as, to espy land; to espy a man in a crowd. As one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, . . . he espied his money. Gen.…

ith half an eye; often figuratively. "Those who have but half an eye. " B. Jonson. -- To catch one's eye, to attract one's notice. -- To find favor in the eyes (of), to be graciously received and treated. -- To have an eye to, to pay particular attention to; to watch. "Have an eye to Cinna." Shak. -- To keep an eye…

To catch; to seize, as with the teeth; to lay hold of; to gripe; to clutch. [Obs.] Shak. He's in the law's clutches; you see he's fanged. J. Webster.