different between catch vs case

English

Etymology

From Middle English cacchen, from Anglo-Norman cachier, from Late Latin capti?re, present active infinitive of capti?, from Latin capt?, frequentative of capi?. Akin to Modern French chasser (from Old French chacier) and Spanish cazar, and thus a doublet of chase. Displaced Middle English fangen ("to catch"; > Modern English fang (verb)), from Old English f?n (“to seize, take”); Middle English lacchen ("to catch"; > Modern English latch), from Old English læ??an.

The verb became irregular, possibly under the influence of the semantically similar latch (from Old English læ??an) whose past tense was lahte, lauhte, laught (Old English læhte) until becoming regularised in Modern English.

Pronunciation

• enPR: k?ch, IPA^(key): /kæt??/
• (US) enPR: k?ch, k?ch, IPA^(key): /kæt??/, /k?t??/
  • Noah Webster's American Dictionary (1828) regards /k?t?/ as the "popular or common pronunciation." It is labeled "not infreq[uent]" in Kenyon & Knott (1949).
• Rhymes: -æt?, -?t?

Noun

catch (countable and uncountable, plural catches)

1. (countable) The act of seizing or capturing.

   The catch of the perpetrator was the product of a year of police work.

2. (countable) The act of catching an object in motion, especially a ball.

   The player made an impressive catch.

   Nice catch!

3. (countable) The act of noticing, understanding or hearing.

   Good catch. I never would have remembered that.

4. (uncountable) The game of catching a ball.

   The kids love to play catch.

5. (countable) Something which is captured or caught.

   The fishermen took pictures of their catch.

   The catch amounted to five tons of swordfish.

6. (countable, colloquial, by extension) A find, in particular a boyfriend or girlfriend or prospective spouse.

   Did you see his latest catch?

   He's a good catch.

7. (countable) A stopping mechanism, especially a clasp which stops something from opening.

   She installed a sturdy catch to keep her cabinets closed tight.

8. (countable) A hesitation in voice, caused by strong emotion.

   There was a catch in his voice when he spoke his father's name.

9. (countable, sometimes noun adjunct) A concealed difficulty, especially in a deal or negotiation.

   It sounds like a great idea, but what's the catch?

   Be careful, that's a catch question.

10. (countable) A crick; a sudden muscle pain during unaccustomed positioning when the muscle is in use.

    I bent over to see under the table and got a catch in my side.

11. (countable) A fragment of music or poetry.
12. (obsolete) A state of readiness to capture or seize; an ambush.
    • The common and the canon law […] lie at catch, and wait advantages one against another.

13. (countable, agriculture) A crop which has germinated and begun to grow.
14. (obsolete) A type of strong boat, usually having two masts; a ketch.
    • 1612, John Smith, Map of Virginia, in Kupperman 1988, page 158:

      Fourteene miles Northward from the river Powhatan, is the river Pamaunke, which is navigable 60 or 70 myles, but with Catches and small Barkes 30 or 40 myles farther.

15. (countable, music) A type of humorous round in which the voices gradually catch up with one another; usually sung by men and often having bawdy lyrics.
    • 1610, The Tempest, by Shakespeare, act 3 scene 2

      Let us be jocund: will you troll the catch / You taught me but while-ere?
16. (countable, music) The refrain; a line or lines of a song which are repeated from verse to verse.
18. (countable, cricket, baseball) The act of catching a hit ball before it reaches the ground, resulting in an out.
19. (countable, cricket) A player in respect of his catching ability; particularly one who catches well.
20. (countable, rowing) The first contact of an oar with the water.
21. (countable, phonetics) A stoppage of breath, resembling a slight cough.
22. Passing opportunities seized; snatches.
    • , Introduction

      the way it has been writ in, by catches, and many long intervals of interruption

23. A slight remembrance; a trace.
    • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica

      We retain a catch of those pretty stories.

Synonyms

• (act of capturing): seizure, capture, collar, snatch
• (the act of catching a ball): grasp, snatch
• (act of noticing): observation
• (a find): prize, find; conquest, beau
• (quantity captured): haul, take
• (stopping mechanism): stop, chock; clasp, hasp, latch
• (hidden difficulty): snag, problem; trick, gimmick, hitch
• (fragment of music): snatch, fragment; snippet, bit
• (refrain): chorus, refrain, burden

Derived terms

See combined section below.

Translations

Verb

catch (third-person singular simple present catches, present participle catching, simple past and past participle caught)

1. (heading) To capture, overtake.
   1. (transitive) To capture or snare (someone or something which would rather escape). [from 13^thc.]

   2. (transitive) To entrap or trip up a person; to deceive. [from 14^thc.]
      • 1611, Authorized King James Version, Mark 12:13:

        And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

   3. (transitive, figuratively, dated) To marry or enter into a similar relationship with.
      • 1933, Sinclair Lewis, Ann Vickers, p.108:

        The public […] said that Miss Bogardus was a suffragist because she had never caught a man; that she wanted something, but it wasn't the vote.

      • 2006, Michael Collier and Georgia Machemer, Medea, p.23:

        As for Aspasia, concubinage with Pericles brought her as much honor as she could hope to claim in Athens. […] from the moment she caught her man, this influential, unconventional woman became a lightning rod […].

   4. (transitive) To reach (someone) with a strike, blow, weapon etc. [from 16^thc.]
   5. (transitive) To overtake or catch up to; to be in time for. [from 17^thc.]
      • 2011 Allen Gregory, "Pilot" (season 1, episode 1):

        Allen Gregory DeLongpre: Did anyone catch the Charlie Rose the evening before last. Did you catch it? No, nothing?

   6. (transitive) To unpleasantly discover unexpectedly; to unpleasantly surprise (someone doing something). [from 17^thc.]

   8. (transitive) To travel by means of. [from 19^thc.]
      • 1987, A.J. Quinnell, In the Name of the Father, p.111:

        After about a kilometer I caught a taxi to Santa Croce.

   9. (transitive, rare) To become pregnant. (Only in past tense or as participle.) [from 19^thc.]
      • 2002, Orpha Caton, Shadow on the Creek, pp.102-103:

        Had Nancy got caught with a child? If so she would destroy her parent's dreams for her.

2. (heading) To seize hold of.
   1. (transitive, dated) To grab, seize, take hold of. [from 13^thc.]
   2. (transitive) To take or replenish something necessary, such as breath or sleep. [from 14^thc.]

   3. (transitive) To grip or entangle. [from 17^thc.]

   4. (intransitive) To be held back or impeded.
   5. (intransitive) To engage with some mechanism; to stick, to succeed in interacting with something or initiating some process.

   6. (transitive) To have something be held back or impeded.

   7. (intransitive) To make a grasping or snatching motion (at). [from 17^thc.]

   8. (transitive) Of fire, to spread or be conveyed to. [from 18^thc.]

   9. (transitive, rowing) To grip (the water) with one's oars at the beginning of the stroke. [from 19^thc.]
      • 1906, Arthur W. Stevens, Practical Rowing with Scull and Sweep, p.63:

        Stop gathering, in that gradual fashion, and catch the water sharply and decisively.

   10. (intransitive, agriculture) To germinate and set down roots. [from 19^thc.]

   11. (transitive, surfing) To contact a wave in such a way that one can ride it back to shore.
       • 2001, John Lull, Sea Kayaking Safety & Rescue, p.203:

         If you are surfing a wave through the rocks, make sure you have a clear route before catching the wave.

   12. (transitive, computing) To handle an exception. [from 20^thc.]

3. (heading) To intercept.
   1. (transitive) To seize or intercept an object moving through the air (or, sometimes, some other medium). [from 16^thc.]

   2. (transitive, now rare) To seize (an opportunity) when it occurs. [from 16^thc.]
      • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 18:

        she internally resolved henceforward to catch every opportunity of eyeing the hair and of satisfying herself, […].

   3. (transitive, cricket) To end a player's innings by catching a hit ball before the first bounce. [from 18^thc.]

   4. (transitive, intransitive, baseball) To play (a specific period of time) as the catcher. [from 19^thc.]

4. (heading) To receive (by being in the way).
   1. (transitive) To be the victim of (something unpleasant, painful etc.). [from 13^thc.]

   2. (transitive) To be touched or affected by (something) through exposure. [from 13^thc.]

   3. (transitive) To be infected by (an illness). [from 16^thc.]

   4. (intransitive) To spread by infection or similar means.

      • Does the sedition catch from man to man?

      • 1817, Mary Martha Sherwood, Stories Explanatory of the Church Catechism

        He accosted Mrs. Browne very civilly, told her his wife was very ill, and said he was sadly troubled to get a white woman to nurse her: "For," said he, "Mrs. Simpson has set it abroad that her fever is catching."

   5. (transitive, intransitive) To receive or be affected by (wind, water, fire etc.). [from 18^thc.]
      • 2003, Jerry Dennis, The Living Great Lakes, p.63:

        the sails caught and filled, and the boat jumped to life beneath us.

   6. (transitive) To acquire, as though by infection; to take on through sympathy or infection. [from 16^thc.]

   7. (transitive) To be hit by something.

   8. (intransitive) To serve well or poorly for catching, especially for catching fish.
   9. (intransitive) To get pregnant.

5. (heading) To take in with one's senses or intellect.
   1. (transitive) To grasp mentally: perceive and understand. [from 16^thc.]

      • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

   2. (transitive, informal) To take in; to watch or listen to (an entertainment). [from 20^thc.]

   3. (transitive) To reproduce or echo a spirit or idea faithfully. [from 17^thc.]

6. (heading) To seize attention, interest.
   1. (transitive) To charm or entrance. [from 14^thc.]
      • 2004, Catherine Asaro, The Moon's Shadow, p.40

        No, a far more natural beauty caught him.

   2. (transitive) To attract and hold (a faculty or organ of sense). [from 17^thc.]

7. (heading) To obtain or experience

Conjugation

Usage notes

• The older past and passive participle catched is now nonstandard.

Synonyms

• (seize in motion): fang, snatch, grab
• (capture prey): capture, take; snare, hook
• (be hit): take, get

Antonyms

• drop, release

Translations

Derived terms

References

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English catch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kat?/

Noun

catch m (uncountable)

1. wrestling; professional wrestling

Derived terms

• catcheur

Further reading

• “catch” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ke?s/
• Rhymes: -e?s
• Hyphenation: case

Etymology 1

Middle English cas, from Old French cas (“an event”), from Latin c?sus (“a falling, a fall; accident, event, occurrence; occasion, opportunity; noun case”), perfect passive participle of cad? (“to fall, to drop”).

Noun

case (plural cases)

1. An actual event, situation, or fact.
2. (now rare) A given condition or state.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.10:

     Ne wist he how to turne, nor to what place: / Was never wretched man in such a wofull cace.

   • 1726, Nathan Bailey, John Worlidge, Dictionarium Rusticum, Urbanicum & Botanicum

     Mares which are over-fat, hold with much difficulty; whereas those that are but in good case and plump, conceive with the greatest readiness and ease.

3. A piece of work, specifically defined within a profession.
4. (academia) An instance or event as a topic of study.
6. (law) A legal proceeding, lawsuit.
7. (grammar) A specific inflection of a word depending on its function in the sentence.

   • Now, the Subject of either an indicative or a subjunctive Clause is always assigned Nominative case, as we see from:
     (16) (a) ? I know [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
     (16) (b) ? I demand [that they/*them/*their leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
     By contrast, the Subject of an infinitive Clause is assigned Objective case, as we see from:
     (17) ? I want [them/*they/*their to leave for Hawaii tomorrow]
     And the Subject of a gerund Clause is assigned either Objective or Genitive case: cf.
     (18) ? I don't like the idea of [them/their/*they leaving for Hawaii tomorrow]

8. (grammar, uncountable) Grammatical cases and their meanings taken either as a topic in general or within a specific language.

9. (medicine) An instance of a specific condition or set of symptoms.

10. (programming) A section of code representing one of the actions of a conditional switch.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

• court case
• See also Thesaurus:grammatical case

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

case (third-person singular simple present cases, present participle casing, simple past and past participle cased)

1. (obsolete) to propose hypothetical cases

See also

• Appendix:Grammatical cases

References

• case on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English cas, from Old Northern French casse, (compare Old French chasse (“box, chest, case”)), from Latin capsa (“box, bookcase”), from capi? (“to take, seize, hold”). Doublet of cash.

Noun

case (plural cases)

2. A box that contains or can contain a number of identical items of manufacture.
3. A box, sheath, or covering generally.

4. A piece of luggage that can be used to transport an apparatus such as a sewing machine.
5. An enclosing frame or casing.

6. A suitcase.
7. A piece of furniture, constructed partially of transparent glass or plastic, within which items can be displayed.
8. The outer covering or framework of a piece of apparatus such as a computer.
9. (printing, historical) A shallow tray divided into compartments or "boxes" for holding type, traditionally arranged in sets of two, the "upper case" (containing capitals, small capitals, accented) and "lower case" (small letters, figures, punctuation marks, quadrats, and spaces).
10. (typography, by extension) The nature of a piece of alphabetic type, whether a “capital” (upper case) or “small” (lower case) letter.
11. (poker slang) Four of a kind.
12. (US) A unit of liquid measure used to measure sales in the beverage industry, equivalent to 192 fluid ounces.
13. (mining) A small fissure which admits water into the workings.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

14. A thin layer of harder metal on the surface of an object whose deeper metal is allowed to remain soft.
15. A cardboard box that holds (usually 24) beer bottles or cans.

    Synonym: carton

Hyponyms

Translations

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ?ISBN

Adjective

case (not comparable)

1. (poker slang) The last remaining card of a particular rank.
   • 2006, David Apostolico, Lessons from the Professional Poker Tour (page 21)

     If he did have a bigger ace, I still had at least six outs — the case ace, two nines, and three tens. I could also have more outs if he held anything less than A-K.

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. ?ISBN

Verb

case (third-person singular simple present cases, present participle casing, simple past and past participle cased)

1. (transitive) To place (an item or items of manufacture) into a box, as in preparation for shipment.
2. (transitive) To cover or protect with, or as if with, a case; to enclose.
   • 1856-1858, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip II

     The man who, cased in steel, had passed whole days and nights in the saddle.

3. (transitive, informal) To survey (a building or other location) surreptitiously, as in preparation for a robbery.
   • 1977, Michael Innes, The Gay Phoenix, ?ISBN, page 116:

     You are in the grounds of Brockholes Abbey, a house into which a great deal of valuable property has just been moved. And your job is to case the joint for a break in.

   • 2014, Amy Goodman, From COINTELPRO to Snowden, the FBI Burglars Speak Out After 43 Years of Silence (Part 2), Democracy Now!, January 8, 2014, 0:49 to 0:57:

     Bonnie worked as a daycare director. She helped case the FBI office by posing as a college student interested in becoming an FBI agent.

Translations

Derived terms

• case the deck

Anagrams

• ACEs, ASCE, Aces, Ceas, ESCA, SCEA, aces, aesc, esca, æsc

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???se/

Verb

casé

1. (transitive) hit

Conjugation

References

• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)?^[2], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis), page 263

Asturian

Verb

case

1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of casar

Chinese

Alternative forms

• K?

Etymology

Borrowed from English case.

Pronunciation

Noun

case

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) case (clarification of this definition is needed)
   • 2015, ???, ????????? II??????????

     ????case???????????????case?? [Cantonese, trad.]
     ????case???????????????case?? [Cantonese, simp.]

     ni¹ go³ hou² do¹ kei¹ si² gaa³. ni¹ jat¹ go³, zau⁶ hai⁶ zoeng¹ gwok³ wing⁴, jau⁵ gam² go³ kei¹ si² laa¹. [Jyutping]

     That kind of case happens often. It happened with Leslie Cheung.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin casa, in the sense of "hut, cabin". The other senses are a semantic loan from Spanish casa. Doublet of chez, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k?z/
• Homophone: cases

Noun

case f (plural cases)

1. (archaic, rare or regional) hut, cabin, shack
2. box (on form)
3. square (on board game)

Derived terms

• case départ
• case à cocher

Further reading

• “case” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• à sec

Galician

Alternative forms

• caixe

Etymology

Attested since the 15th century (quasy), from Latin quasi (“as if”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?k?s?]

Adverb

case

1. almost

References

• “quasy” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “case” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “case” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “case” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Italian

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ca?se

Noun

case f

1. plural of casa

Anagrams

• asce, esca, seca

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?sas?/, [?t?sas?]

Noun

case

1. nominative/accusative plural of cas

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *k?si, from late Proto-West Germanic *k?s?, borrowed from Latin c?seus.

Noun

câse m or n

1. cheese

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

• kese (eastern)

Descendants

• Dutch: kaas
  • Afrikaans: kaas
    • ? Sotho: kase
    • ? Tswana: kase
  • ? Papiamentu: keshi (from the diminutive)
  • ? Sranan Tongo: kasi
• Limburgish: kieës, kees

Further reading

• “case”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “case (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN, page I

Old French

Noun

case m (oblique plural cases, nominative singular cases, nominative plural case)

1. (grammar) case

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ca?se
• Rhymes: -azi

Verb

case

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of casar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of casar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of casar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of casar

Romanian

Noun

case

1. plural of cas?

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?kase/, [?ka.se]

Verb

case

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of casar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of casar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of casar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of casar.

Venetian

Noun

case

1. plural of casa