catching up

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To pick up suddenly.
   • Oscar stopped the horses and waved to Carl, who caught up his hat and ran through the melon patch to join them.1913, Willa Cather, O Pioneers!, chapter 3
2. (transitive, chiefly passive voice) To entangle (something).
   • The speaker wires have got caught up with the wires from the lights.
3. (broadly, transitive, chiefly passive voice) To involve in (something); to embroil.
   • That's why she got caught up in addiction.
4. (intransitive) To be brought up to date with news.
   • I hadn't seen her for so long. It was great to catch up.
5. (transitive) To bring (someone) up to date with the news.
   • After Alice's vacation, her boss caught her up on policy changes.
6. (ambitransitive) To reach something that had been ahead.
   • Rose was three seconds behind, but managed to catch up with the race leader and eventually won.

See all 8 meanings of catch up