Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary полностью

21 N‑COUNT [usu sing] A catch is a hidden problem or difficulty in a plan or an offer that seems surprisingly good. □  The catch is that you work for your supper, and the food and accommodation can be very basic.

22 N‑COUNT When people have been fishing, their catch is the total number of fish that they have caught. □  The catch included one fish over 18 pounds.

23 N‑UNCOUNT Catch is a game in which children throw a ball to each other.

24 N‑UNCOUNT Catch is a game in which one child chases other children and tries to touch or catch one of them.

25 → see also catching

26 PHRASE You can say things such as ' You wouldn't catch me doing that ' to emphasize that you would never do a particular thing. [INFORMAL , EMPHASIS ] □  You wouldn't catch me in there, I can tell you.

27to catch your breath → see breath

28to catch fire → see fire ➊

29to catch hold of something → see hold ➊

30to catch sight of something → see sight

▸  catch on

1 PHRASAL VERB If you catch on to something, you understand it, or realize that it is happening. □ [V P + to ] He got what he could out of me before I caught on to the kind of person he'd turned into. □ [V P ] Wait a minute! I'm beginning to catch on.

2 PHRASAL VERB If something catches on , it becomes popular. □ [V P ] The idea has been around for ages without catching on.

▸  catch out PHRASAL VERB To catch someone out means to cause them to make a mistake that reveals that they are lying about something, do not know something, or cannot do something. [mainly BRIT ] □ [V n P prep] Detectives followed him for months hoping to catch him out in some deception. □ [be V -ed P + by] The government has been caught out by the speed of events. [Also V n P , V P n]

▸  catch up

1 PHRASAL VERB If you catch up with someone who is in front of you, you reach them by walking faster than they are walking. □ [V P ] I stopped and waited for her to catch up. □ [V P + with ] We caught up with the others.

2 PHRASAL VERB To catch up with someone means to reach the same standard, stage, or level that they have reached. □ [V P + with ] Most late developers will catch up with their friends. □ [V P ] John began the season better than me but I have fought to catch up. □ [V P + on/in ] During the evenings, the school is used by kids who want to catch up on English and mathematics.

3 PHRASAL VERB If you catch up on an activity that you have not had much time to do recently, you spend time doing it. □ [V P + on/with ] I was catching up on a bit of reading.

4 PHRASAL VERB If you catch up on friends who you have not seen for some time or on their lives, you talk to them and find out what has happened in their lives since you last talked together. □ [V P + on ] The ladies spent some time catching up on each other's health and families. □ [V P + with ] She plans to return to Dublin to catch up with the relatives she has not seen since she married.

5 PHRASAL VERB If you are caught up in something, you are involved in it, usually unwillingly. □ [be V -ed P + in ] The people themselves weren't part of the conflict; they were just caught up in it. [Also be/get V -ed P ]

▸  catch up with

1 PHRASAL VERB When people catch up with someone who has done something wrong, they succeed in finding them in order to arrest or punish them. □ [V P P n] The law caught up with him yesterday.