in comb. and attrib. [Mainly the vb. used in phraseological combination, as catch-all, ‘that can or will catch all’; or attrib., as in catch phrase, catching phrase ‘phrase to catch’; but in sense 4 it may be the sb.]
I. With sbs., etc., in objective relation. (The resulting combination is a sb., but capable also of being used attrib. or as adj.)
1. In sense ‘one who or that which catches (what is expressed by the object),’ as catch-all, † catch-bit, † catch-cloak, † catch-coin, † catch-credit, † catch-fish, † catch-fool, † catch-plume, catch-shilling (cf. CATCHPENNY), catch-water (see quots.); † catch-dolt, some form of cheating or swindling; † catch-dotterel, ? a cheat, sharper; catch-’em-alive-o, slang name for a ‘fly-paper’ for catching flies. (Primarily sbs. but sometimes also used attrib. or as adjs.: see catch-all, catch-shilling, catch-water.) See also CATCHFLY, CATCHPENNY, CATCHPOLL.
Few of these are found before 1600.
1866. Mrs. Stowe, Little Foxes, 27. The general *catch-all and menagerie … for all the family litter.
1875. Howells, Foregone Concl., xviii. 296. A catch-all closet in the studio.
1611. Cotgr., Tirelupin, a *catch-bit or captious companion; a scuruie fellow.
1679. Hobbes, Dial. Com. Laws (1840), 81. Cheaters, cutpurses, picklocks, *catchcloaks, coiners of false money.
1611. Cotgr., Gripp argent, a *Catch-coyne; a greedie or couetous Judge.
1629. Gaule, Holy Madnesse, 86. He … hath made him a new kinde of *Catch-credit, of his old Couer-shame.
1592. Greene, Def. Conny-Catch. (1859), 4. At Dequoy, Mumchaunce, *Catch-dolt, Ourelebourse … none durst euer make compare with me for excellence.
1671. Glanvill, Disc. M. Stubbe, 2. Impostors, *Catch-Dotterels, Fops, Tories.
1855. Dickens, L. Dorrit, xvi. (Hoppe). Sticky old Saints, with … such coats of varnish that every holy personage served for a fly-trap, and became what is now called in the vulgar tongue a *Catch-em-alive O.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 163. Itinerant vendors of catch-’em-alive-o’s.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, (1673), 40. Sons of some *Catch-Fish, or chief Fencer.
1598. E. Gilpin, Skial. (1878), 8. For pleasant *catch-fooles … he spares not To sweare hee’s carelesse.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, (1673), 53/2. The Retiarius wore a feather in his Crest; and so it might be render’d a *Catch-plume.
1815. Southey, Lett. (1856), II. 402 (D.). The other article is upon a catch penny or rather *catch shilling ‘Life of Wellington.’
1861. Smiles, Engineers, II. 160. Intercepting or *catchwater drains.
1877. Ld. Hatherley, in Law Rep., App. Cases II. 844. The weirs or catchwaters are used to divert the water to the lades.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., VII. 23. In catch-water meadows the water is allowed to flow on to the most elevated portion … by means of a ‘feeder.’
1869. Echo, 9 Oct. *Catch-work, or running men, when with the threshing machines, received as much as 3s. a day.
2. In sense ‘to catch, the catching of (the object),’ as catch-ball, catch-cold (also attrib.); hence catch-coldy adj.
1631. J. Burges, Answ. Rejoined, Pref. 70. You are as good at *catch-ball … but you strike not so well.
1881. Mrs. Holman Hunt, Childr. Jerus., 30. The children set to playing catch-ball with the golden fruit.
1824. J. Macculloch, Highl. Scotl., III. 192. Sufficient warranty for this *catch cold.
1825. Scott, Diary, in Lockhart (1839), VIII. 148. No man … has less dread than I of the catch cold.
1884. Daily News, 14 Nov., 5/4. A chemist said to me this evening: ‘It is not at all a source of profit to persons in my business as mere catch-cold weather.’
1884. Blackw. Mag., March, 332/1. I am not a catch-coldy person.
II. In attributive relation to a sb.
3. In sense ‘that catches or for catching’; a. lit., as † catch-hook, catch-lock; catch-basin, the receptacle placed beneath the grating of a sewer or other opening, to catch the dirt that is washed in; catch-drain, a drain or ditch, esp. on a hillside, to catch the surface water; also a drain by the side of a canal or conduit to catch the surplus water; catch-meadow, ? a meadow irrigated by means of catch-drains; catch-pit, a pit to catch drainage sediment in water, etc.; also = catch-basin; catch plate (Colliery), an iron plate for catching the safety hook of the winding rope, and preventing the load from falling back, in case of overwinding; catch reservoir (cf. catch pit); catch siding, a railway siding placed on steep inclines so as to catch and stop a carriage, etc., accidentally running back down the slope; catch-work, the method of irrigating a sloping meadow by means of catch-drains (see quot.). See also CATCHWEED.
1834. Brit. Husb., I. 528. Where … the plane of the surface of the field presents a considerable descent, the *catch-drains instead of being carried straight across it, are cut in an angular direction across the line of descent.
1751. S. Whatley, Eng. Gazeteer, Higham (Leic.). Great *catch-hooks and keepers of silver, with links of a great gold chain.
1863. Reade, in All Y. Round, 3 Oct., 126/2. His door … closed with a *catch-lock.
1843. Pusey, in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IV. II. 314. The worthless slope would be converted into *catch-meadow.
1870. Echo, 6 May, 1/4. Forming a number of large *catch pits, and passing the water on its way to the river through them.
1882. Gard. Chron., No. 420. 45. A slight slope to one corner, to a small catch-pit, for the purpose of collecting the drainage.
1887. Daily News, 11 Jan., 2/7. The force with which the cage was hurled into the head gear was so great that the bolts which fasten the *catch-plate to the girders were torn away. Ibid., 4 July, 3/4. It was decided to construct a *catch reservoir and pump into it water from the springs.
b. fig. in sense ‘that catches or is meant to catch the eye, ear, fancy, etc.’; as catch idea, catch-line, catch phrase, catch sound, CATCHWORD. (In this use, it is often treated as an independent adj. and written without hyphen.)
1884. Chr. World, 19 June, 454/1. He has … got hold of a few *catch-ideas.
1866. Dickens, Repr. Pieces, 146. What you wanted was two or three good *catch-lines for the eye to rest on.
a. 1850. Calhoun, Wks. (1874), IV. 206. The whole scheme, with all its plausible *catch-phrases.
1856. Dove, Logic Chr. Faith, I. ii. 73. Catch phrases of this kind are sufficient to satisfy the simple.
1878. Page Roberts, Law & God, 127. It is not the *catch-sound of a verse which has authority, but the divine spirit of God’s revelation.
4. More loosely; as catch-crop, a crop got by catching or seizing an opportunity when the ground would otherwise lie fallow between two regular or main crops; hence catch-cropping, the raising of catch-crops; † catch-land (see quot.); catch-match, a match that is ‘a catch’ or great advantage to one of the parties; catch-weight (Horse-racing).
1884. Sir T. Acland, in Pall Mall Gaz., 25 Feb., 2/1. *Catch crops rarely pay on a farm.
1887. Daily News, 16 July, 3/8. ‘Catch-cropping’ … is now coming to be looked upon as a mark of skilful and thrifty farming.
1674. Ray, S. & E. Countr. Wds., Coll. 61. *Catch-land, land which is not certainly known to what Parish it belongeth; and the Minister that first gets the tithes of it enjoys it for that year.
1824. Scott, St. Ronan’s, vi. She made out her *catch-match, and she was miserable.
1820. Hoyle’s Games Impr., 477. General rules concerning Horse-racing…. *Catch Weights are, each party to appoint any person to ride without weighing.
1872. Pall Mall Gaz., 1 Aug., 11/2. The ‘catch’ in ‘catch weight’—which is almost synonymous with ‘chance weight’—originally applied only to the weight which was ‘caught’ as best it might be.
