Word.ws English Dictionary

catch as catch can

catch as catch can verb: to use any available means or methods.

Verb

catch as catch can (third-person singular simple present catches as catch can, present participle catching as catch can, no simple past or past participle)

  1. (idiomatic, imperative, no-past, participle, past) To use any available means or methods.
    • Which being done, the Women run in the dark to catch as catch can; and whatever Lot they light on,[…]1698, John Fryer, “Carries Us to Jelfa; Where Is Treated of the Gabers, or Original Persians, the Armenians, Georgians, and Europe Artisans”, in A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight...

Forms of catch as catch can

third-person singular presentcatches as catch can
present participlecatching as catch can

Questions about catch as catch can

What does catch as catch can mean?
Catch as catch can means to use any available means or methods.
What part of speech is catch as catch can?
Catch as catch can is a verb.

Words near catch as catch can in the dictionary

  1. catch a wave
  2. catch air
  3. catch and kill
  4. catch and kiss
  5. catch and release
  6. catch as catch can
  7. catch basin
  8. catch basins
  9. catch bet
  10. catch bets
  11. catch big air

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch as catch can (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-catch as catch can.ogg.

Cite this entry: “catch as catch can.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catch_as_catch_can. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.