catch
(verb)
past tense: caught
LISTEN
Catching a baseball
If you catch something, it means that you take something in your hands because someone threw it or it is falling.
- I caught the ball.
It also means to arrive on time so that you can get on a bus or train before it leaves.
- I have to leave now or I won't catch my train.
Catch means to get an illness.
- I caught a cold and couldn't go to work.
If you catch someone, it means that you find them and stop them, usually when they are trying to escape.
- The police caught him after two days.
Common uses
When someone stops exercising because they are breathing very fast, we often say that they are catching their breath. For example, “Stop for a minute and catch your breath.”
In pop culture
Do you know the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can? Leonardo DiCaprio plays a smart criminal who the FBI is trying to catch, as you can see in this video.
There are other meanings of catch.
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