catch (n.)

catch (v.)

Than catch and hold while I may, fast binde, fast finde.

John Heywood (Circa 1565): Proverbes. Part i. Chap. iii.

Choose a firm cloud before it fall, and in it

Catch, ere she change, the Cynthia of this minute.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Moral Essays. Epistle ii. Line 19.

By robbing Peter he paid Paul, . . . and hoped to catch larks if ever the heavens should fall.

Martin Luther (1483-1546): Works. Book i. Chap. xi.

See my lips tremble and my eyeballs roll,

Suck my last breath, and catch my flying soul.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Eloisa to Abelard. Line 323.

I can tell where my own shoe pinches me; and you must not think, sir, to catch old birds with chaff.

Miguel De Cervantes (1547-1616): Don Quixote. Part i. Book iv. Chap. v.

The play's the thing

Wherein I 'll catch the conscience of the king.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616): Hamlet. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Learn of the little nautilus to sail,

Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iii. Line 177.

Eye Nature's walks, shoot folly as it flies,

And catch the manners living as they rise;

Laugh where we must, be candid where we can,

But vindicate the ways of God to man.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle i. Line 13.

Catch, then, oh catch the transient hour;

Improve each moment as it flies!

Life's a short summer, man a flower;

He dies—alas! how soon he dies!

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784): Winter. An Ode.