I’m sure you’re all familiar with the verb “catch” in a sentence like “to catch a baseball”. But “catch” is also used in many English idioms, especially in informal English.
Have you ever heard the expression “catch up with someone”? It’s quite common and has a number of meanings. One meaning is to meet a friend to share information and get up-to-date news (or maybe gossip), for example “How about we catch up sometime next week for a coffee?”.
The verb “catch” is also often used in many other idioms, so I’ve included a few more below.
| Idiom | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| catch on | to become popular; widespread | The use of use of smart phones has really caught on over the past few years. |
| catch the eye | to get attention; to get noticed | I can’t believe I caught the eye of the baseball scout! |
| catch red-handed | to catch a person doing something wrong/bad | My little brother was caught red-handed stealing cookies from the cupboard. |
| catch you later | a phrase used to finish an informal conversation = “see you later” | A:”Anyway, catch you later” B:”Yeah, see you soon”. |
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