Word.ws English Dictionary

catch a case

catch a case verb: to be infected with a disease; used with of.

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To be infected with a disease; used with of.
    • In 1901, he caught a case of the flu, fell into a moribund state lasting another year, and died without ever fathering a child.64 Niue was hardly alone in this experience. Soap sales benefited enormously from the deadly wave of bubonic[…]2013 March 25, Gregory T. Cushman, Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 104
  2. (broadly, figuratively, informal, slang) To be overcome by or enthused about anything; used with of.
    • Four years ago on New Year's Eve, he was partying in Tampa and caught a case of the boogie woogie while sitting in his van, listening to music, but charged with DUI. As an attorney, Mr. Lewis explained that some of the charges are[…]2011 June 3, Dr. George Foxx, Caught up in the Boogie Woogie World, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 7
  3. (slang) To commit a crime and be arrested for it, especially a violent or sexual crime.
    • If just one more damn high rate, red-lining, premium-gorging, inner-city auto insurance company tries to stick me up just because I choose to live and drive in a black city, I just might catch a case! If just one more white landlord or[…]2000, Earl Roberts, I Beg Your Damn Pardon - Was It Something I Said?: The Poetic Prose and Unchained Thoughts of a Contemporary Black Man, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN, page 35

Forms of catch a case

third-person singular presentcatches a case
present participlecatching a case
past participlecaught a case
pastcaught a case

Questions about catch a case

What does catch a case mean?
Catch a case means to be infected with a disease; used with of.
What part of speech is catch a case?
Catch a case is a verb.
What is the past tense of catch a case?
The past tense of catch a case is caught a case.

Words near catch a case in the dictionary

  1. CATCH 22 syndrome
  2. CATCH 22 syndromes
  3. catch a body
  4. catch a break
  5. catch a buzz
  6. catch a case
  7. catch a cold
  8. catch a crab
  9. catch a date
  10. catch a dick
  11. catch a fade

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch a case (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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