INTEREST A $£ 15 [VN] ~ sb’s
interest, imagination,
attention, etc. if sth catches your
interest, etc., you notice it and feel interested in it 31^2, {
AIL M
►
SHOW ACCURATELY M » i * 16 [VN] to show or
describe sth accurately il J£
|| SH ; cm
capture : The artist has caught
her smile perfectly. zE
% mm *
►
LIGHT ft 17 [VN] if sth
catches the light or the light catches it, the light shines on it and makes it
shine too ( it ) MIA ( ftM ) MM: The knife gleamed as it
caught the light
►
THE SUN A (50 18 [VN] (informal) if you catch the sun,
you become red or brown because of spending time in thesunWft; TO;
►
BURN ftfegg 19 to begin to burn ;
If ( A ) : [VN]
The wooden rafters caught fire. A % 7 If A 7 „ o [V] These logs are wet:
they won’t catch. jA# ,
►
IN CRICKET u 20 [VN] to make a player
unable to continue batting by
catching the ball they have hit before it touches the ground (
ITOOT catch your 'breath 1 to stop breathing for
a moment because of fear, shock, etc. (MM H1sC fill, i ^ 2 to breathe normally again after
running or doing some tiring exercise (
(5 ) HiP^ catch your 'death (of 'cold) (old-fashioned, informal) to catch a very bad
cold .ilif catch sb’s 'eye to attract sb’s
attention M^
Mr? 'catch
it {BrE) {NAmE catch 'hell, 'get it) (informal) to be punished or
spoken to angrily about sth /T m ■■ If your dad finds out
you’ll really catch it!
!
catch sb
napping (BrE) to get an advantage
over sb by doing sth when they are not expecting it and not ready for it ^ A it
7 7 A; ^7i§f catch
sb on the 'hop (informal) to surprise sb by doing sth when they are not
expecting it and not ready for it ^^AitT-M^ catch sb red-'handed to catch sb in the act
of doing sth wrong or committing a crime A catch sb with their 'pants down {BrE also catch sb with their 'trousers
down) (informal) to arrive or do sth
when sb is not expecting it and not ready, especially when they are in an
embarrassing
situationHAftAA#; ^AKr
—
more at balance
/?., cleft adj., fancy /?., raw /?., rock n., short adv. imr-gfa 'catch at sth = clutch at sth at clutch
v. ,
catch on to become popular or
fashionable %MM: He invented a
new game, but it never
really caught on. T_'#0r
,catch ’on (to sth) (informal) to understand sth M : He is very quick
to catch on to things. .catch sb 'out 1 to
surprise sb and put them in a
difficult position M ®
HI fit: Many investors were caught out by the fall
in
share prices. AHI^0
2 to show that sb does not know much or is
doing sth wronglftiAWIft; They
tried to catch her out with
a difficult question. f&Cli^fil .catch 'up on sth 1 to spend extra time
doing sth because you have not done it earlier ) ; Sift; *h±: I have a lot of
work to catch up on. M
^ i7 ^ X M H lift „ 2 to find
out about things that
have happened 7$? (
'If ) :
We
spent the evening catching up on each other’s news. be/get
.caught
'up in sth to become involved in sth, especially when you do not
want to be M# A; PS A: Innocent
passers-by got caught up in the riots. ftM Wi31i&A ®#A7IP^H$Lo .catch 'up (with sb) (BrE also .catch sb 'up) 1 to reach sb who is
ahead by going faster £E±, ii± ( HA
) : Go on ahead. I’ll catch
up with you. ifo 9c MRt IB ££ ± ^ „ 0
I’ll catch you up.
Wc
2 to reach the same level or standard as sb who was better or more advanced ± , JA fij ( SAM ) : After
missing a term through illness he had to work hard to catch up with the others.
WN#0
.catch'up
with sb
1 to finally start to
cause problems for sb after they
| 301 catchphrase
have managed to avoid
this for some time MM ( If ijf ) |nM: She was terrified that
one day her past problems would catch up with her. M Mi)* IF 10 M A W R SS&iiF^ 2 if the police or
authorities
catch up with sb, they
find and punish them after some time ^-Adtrf'JH AA±: The law caught up with
him years later when he had moved to
mnoun
►
OF BALL J$l 1 [C] an act of catching sth, for example a
ball fg ( ) : to make a catch igijt
►
AMOUNT CAUGHT jf&iti 2 [C] the total amount of things
that are caught a huge catch offish
MM
►
FASTENING 3 [C] a device used for fastening sth
MM: cl catch on the door HR 0 safety
catches for the windows
►
DIFFICULTY HI1)® 4 [C, usually sing.] a hidden difficulty
or disadvantage H§cW®2t; Bf 61) 7 M ® ft: All that money for two
hours’ work—what’s the catch? 7 T W 7
& m?
►
CHILD’S GAME 71 s^)^ 5 [U] a child’s game in which
two people throw a
ball to each other ( JIM ) $
►
PERSON A 6 [sing.] (old-fashioned) a person that
other people see as a good person to marry, employ, etc. mIWMft; MM A; MWIMft; #MWA
from (a) catch-22 | a catch-22 situation (informal) a difficult situation from which there is no escape because you need to
do one thing before doing a second, and you cannot do the second thing before
doing the first (ft M ®: I
can’t get a job because
I haven’t got anywhere to live but I can’t afford a
place to live until I get a job—it’s a catch-22
situation.
'catch-ail noun 1 (especially
NAmE) a thing for holding many small objects je & (ft § (Hi Jfc ffi 2 a
group or description
that includes different things and that does not state clearly what is included
or not
) ► 'catch-all adj. [only before
noun]: a
catch-allphrase/term /
Ain
' catch crop noun {BrE) a crop that is grown in the space between two main crops, or at a time
when no main crop is being grown RMtl, (
MMMMMAH'b]
catch-er /'kaetj9(r)/ noun 1 (in baseball
# fjc) the player who stands behind the batter
and catches the ball if he or she does not hit it gjijcT- — picture c> page R30 2 (usually in compounds o’i^) a
person
or thing that
catches sth jSJE#; a rat catcher
Mil
catch ing /'kaetJYr)/ adj. [not before noun]
1 (of a disease 2£-^j) easily caught by one person from another M ECTl infectious 2 (of an emotion or a mood if l£ |f it) passing quickly from one person to another ^ IB ^ fl EE771 infectious : Try to be as enthusiastic
as possible (enthusiasm
is catching)!
)
!
catch-line /'ksetjlain/ noun 1 {technical Ailf) a short line of text which can be easily noticed, for example at
the top of a page ( ) ^1 AM i M
@ 2 a phrase used in an advertisement 7* p“i«
catch ment area /'kaetfmant earia; NAmE eria/ noun 1 (BrE) the area from which a school takes its students, a hospital its
patients, etc. (^^^)MMftfeK; ( MK 2 (also catch-ment) {technical Aiif) the area from which rain flows into a particular river or
catch-penny /'kaetjpeni/ adj. {old-fashioned) (of a product or service M pri ^ 4r) produced or provided
just to make money,
without being of good quality ( 7?
m) MAsm&i
catch-phrase /‘kaetj'freiz/ noun a popular phrase
that is connected with the politician or entertainer who used it and made it
famous £ n; MAW if