Heading
and blue-bottles, gnats, midges, and all manner of catawampuses, as the ladies call them.
Catch, subs. (colloquial).—A man
or woman matrimonially desirable;
formerly in a canting sense, a
prize or booty [see quot. 1877]. A
woman who is 'no great catch'
is in French argot termed une
grognotte.
1593. Shakspeare, Taming of the Shrew, Act ii., Sc. 1, 333. Bap. The gain I seek is—quiet in the match. Gre. No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch.
1748. T. Dyche, Dictionary (5 ed.) Catch (s.) . . . also a cant word for a prize, booty, etc.
1842. Comic Almanack, p. 333. Angelina Ampletin was one of the prettiest girls in Pimlico, and if there was any truth in rumour, very far from one of the worst catches.
1877. Five Years Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. Well, as it was her catch, I thought as I'd consult along of her whether we should take the £200.
Catch or Cut a Crab, verbal phr.
(common).—There are various
ways of catching a crab, as for
example, (1) to turn the blade of
the oar or 'feather' under water
at the end of the stroke, and
thus be unable to recover; (2) to
lose control of the oar at the
middle of the stroke by 'digging'
too deeply; or (3) to miss
the water altogether. An English
variant is to 'capture a cancer,'
an American form being 'to
catch a lobster.'—See
Lobster.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue, s.v.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple [ed. 1846], ch viii., p. 206, s.v.
1844. Puck, p. 134. Now, Johnson, thou wilt surely rue! Didst ever pull before? (Brown had been up to fish at Kew. And caught—of crabs—a store.
1849. John Smith (J. D. Lewis) Hark, the gun has gone thrice, and now off in a trice, With the Johnians we're soon on a level. When Hicks, who's no dab, with his oar cuts a crab? And our coxswain he swears like the Devil.
1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 144. Awful muff! Can't pull two strokes without catching as many crabs; he'd upset the veriest tub on the river.
1872. Daily News, 10 Sept. 'London Rowing Club Regatta.' The excitement and fun engendered by the numerous scrimmages resulted in 'fouls' and crabs of most portentous magnitude.
Catch a Tartar, verbal phr. (popular).—To
unexpectedly meet with
one's superior; to fall into one's
own trap; having a design upon
another, to be caught oneself.
[Explanation may be found, perhaps,
in the horror born of the
atrocities of the Tartar hordes
who devasted Eastern Europe in
the reign of St. Louis of France.
Cf., Tartar, a person of irritable
temper.] An American variant
is to catch on a snag (q.v.).
1682. Dryden, Prol. to King and Queen, in wks., p. 456 (Globe). When men will needlessly their freedom barter for lawless power, sometimes they catch a tarter.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. xxx. Who, looking at me with a contemptuous sneer, exclaimed, Ah, ah! have you caught a tarter?
1778. Fanny Burney, Diary, 23 Aug. 'Ah,' he (Johnson) added, 'they will little think what a tartar you carry to them.'
1857. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat of the Breakfast Table, ch. v. When the Danish pirates made descents upon the English coast, they caught a few tartars occasionally, in the shape of Saxons.
c. 1880. Broadside Ballad, 'Unhappy Because it Can't Last.' They say two heads are better than one, so I took a wife and caught a tartar, and found two of a trade could never agree, and proved the proverb that marry in haste repent at leisure.
Catch-'em-Alive, or Alivo, subs.
phr. (common).—1. A fly-paper.
