Word.ws English Dictionary

chase

/t͡ʃeɪs/

chase noun: the act of one who chases another; a pursuit.

Noun (1)

chase (countable and uncountable, plural chases)

  1. The act of one who chases another; a pursuit.
  2. A hunt; the act of hunting; the pursuit of game.
    • He was a good shot and passionately fond of the chase, and used to spend many hours in the neighbouring woods after the harts and the wild sows.1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 58
    • By-and-by, she wandered away to an unnecessary revelation of her master's whereabouts: gone to help in the search for his landlord, the Sieur de Poissy, who lived at the château just above, and who had not returned from his chase the day before; so the intendant imagined he might have met with some...1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Grey Woman
  3. (uncountable) A children's game where one player chases another.
    • Some children like to be caught when playing chase, and others do not.1996, Marla Pender McGhee, Quick & Fun Learning Activities for 1 Year Olds, page 25
    • So we played chase up and down the concourses of the airport.2009, Martin J. Levin, We Were Relentless: A Family's Journey to Overcome Disability, page 41
  4. (UK) A large country estate where game may be shot or hunted.
    • Outside, the stately oaks, rooted for ages in the green ground which has never known ploughshare, but was still a chase when kings rode to battle with sword and shield and rode a-hunting with bow and arrow, bear witness to his greatness.1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 14, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC
  5. Anything being chased, especially a vessel in time of war.
  6. (obsolete) A wild animal that is hunted.
    • As touching the Harte and such other light chases or beasts of Uenerie, the huntesmen on horsebacke may followe theyr houndes alwayes by the same wayes that they saw him passe ouer,1575, George Gascoigne, chapter 40, in The Noble Arte of Venerie of Hunting, London: Christopher Barker, page 111
    • Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,
      For I myself must hunt this deer to death.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
    Synonyms:
    game
  7. Any of the guns that fire directly ahead or astern; either a bow chase or stern chase.
  8. (real tennis) The occurrence of a second bounce by the ball in certain areas of the court, giving the server the chance, later in the game, to "play off" the chase from the receiving end and possibly win the point.
  9. (real tennis) A division of the floor of a gallery, marked by a figure or otherwise; the spot where a ball falls, and between which and the dedans the adversary must drive the ball in order to gain a point.
  10. One or more riders who are ahead of the peloton and trying to join the race or stage leaders.
  11. A series of brief improvised jazz solos by a number of musicians taking turns.

Verb (1)

chase (third-person singular simple present chases, present participle chasing, simple past and past participle chased)

  1. (transitive) To follow at speed.
  2. (transitive) To hunt.
  3. (transitive) To seek to attain.
    • The team are chasing their first home win this season.
  4. (transitive) To persistently pursue someone as a sexual or romantic partner.
    • He spends all his free time chasing girls.
    • She was the girl, I know that now. But I pushed her away. So, I've spent every day since then chasing Amy… so to speak.1997, Kevin Smith, Chasing Amy, spoken by Silent Bob
  5. (transitive) To pursue a vessel in order to destroy, capture or interrogate her.
  6. (transitive) To consume another beverage immediately after drinking hard liquor, typically something better tasting or less harsh such as soda or beer; to use a drink as a chaser.
    • I need something to chase this shot with.
    • [He] chases his bedtime Valium with Johnny Walker Red.1986, Joseph Beam, “Brother to Brother: Words from the Heart”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 240
  7. (transitive) To attempt to win by scoring the required number of runs in the final innings.
    • Australia will be chasing 217 for victory on the final day.
  8. (transitive) To swing at a pitch outside of the strike zone, typically an outside pitch.
    • Jones chases one out of the zone for strike two.
  9. (transitive) To produce enough offense to cause the pitcher to be removed.
    • The rally chased the starter.

Noun (2)

chase (plural chases)

  1. A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate-making.
    • The die-maker should work upon the surface of an imposing table. First, he places on the table the chase in which the die is to be locked up. Second, he fills in the chase with regular printer’s wood furniture, leaving space in the center for the die, and placing locking quoins near the top of the...1920, Robert F. Salade, chapter IX, in How Paper Boxes are Made

Noun (3)

chase (plural chases)

  1. A groove cut in an object; a slot: the chase for the quarrel on a crossbow.
  2. A trench or channel or other encasement structure for encasing (archaically spelled enchasing) drainpipes or wiring; a hollow space in the wall of a building encasing ventilation ducts, chimney flues, wires, cables or plumbing.
  3. The part of a gun in front of the trunnions.
  4. The cavity of a mold.
  5. A kind of joint by which an overlap joint is changed to a flush joint by means of a gradually deepening rabbet, as at the ends of clinker-built boats.

Verb (2)

chase (third-person singular simple present chases, present participle chasing, simple past and past participle chased)

  1. (transitive) To groove; indent.
  2. (transitive) To place piping or wiring in a groove encased within a wall or floor, or in a hidden space encased by a wall.
    • chase the pipe
  3. (transitive) To cut (the thread of a screw).
  4. (transitive) To decorate (metal) by engraving or embossing.

Proper noun capitalized: Chase

Chase (countable and uncountable, plural Chases)

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname from a Middle English nickname for a hunter.
  2. A unisex given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage.
    • “Chase Strangio is our nation’s leading legal expert on the rights of transgender people, bar none,” said Cecillia Wang, the ACLU’s legal director.2024 October 21, Devan Cole, “ACLU attorney will be the first openly transgender advocate to argue before Supreme Court”, in CNN
    • “We’re in a moment in this country where transgender people in this country are under attack in lawless ways,” said Chase Strangio, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who represented transgender teens at the high court.2025 June 18, John Fritze and Devan Cole, “Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s historic decision on transgender care”, in CNN
  3. A village and river in British Columbia, Canada.
  4. An unincorporated community in Madison County, Alabama.
  5. A census-designated place in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.
  6. An unincorporated community in Grant Township, Benton County, Indiana.
  7. A city in Rice County, Kansas.
  8. An unincorporated community in Franklin Parish, Louisiana.
  9. An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland.
  10. A township in Lake County, Michigan.
  11. A census-designated place in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
  12. A town and unincorporated community in Oconto County, Wisconsin.
  13. (abbreviation, ellipsis) Ellipsis of Chase County.

chase meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Telugu

chase in Hindi

action of the verb "to chase"
पीछा करना pīchā karnā
to pursue, to follow at speed
पीछा करना pīchā karnā

chase in Tamil

to pursue, to follow at speed
விரட்டு viraṭṭu, துரத்து turattu

chase in Marathi

पाठलाग, पाठलाग करणे

chase in Telugu

to pursue, to follow at speed
వెంటాడు veṇṭāḍu, తరుము tarumu
More languagesFewer languages
chase in Kannada
ಬೆನ್ನಟ್ಟಲು
chase in Gujarati
પીછો, પીછો કરવો, પીછો કરવા
chase in Assamese
খেদা kheda
chase in Arabic
طَارَدَ ṭārada
chase in Indonesian
pengejaran, mengejar
chase in Persian
یوختن yuxtan, یوزیدن yuzidan
chase in Thai
กวด gùuat
chase in Vietnamese
đuổi, rượt

Examples of chase in a sentence

  • But here's my number, so call me, maybe / And all the other boys try to chase me2011, “Call Me Maybe”, performed by Carly Rae Jepsen:
  • First, he places on the table the chase in which the die is to be locked up.1920, Robert F. Salade, chapter IX, in How Paper Boxes are Made:

All 40 example sentences with chase

Synonyms of chase

Forms of chase

Noun
pluralchases
alternative formchace
Verb
third-person singular presentchases
present participlechasing
past participlechased
pastchased
Proper noun
pluralChases

Past tense of chase: chased

Plural of chase: chases

Origin of chase

From Middle English chacen, from Anglo-Norman chacer, Old French chacier, from Vulgar Latin *captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Compare French chasser (“to hunt”, “to chase”), Spanish cazar (“to hunt”), Portuguese caçar (“to hunt”) , see Norwegian skysse (“to hunt”). Doublet of catch and related to capture. Displaced native Old English ōht, ēhtnes, and wāþ. Broadly overtook Old English huntaþ.

Perhaps from French châsse (“case”, “reliquary”), from Old French chasse, from Latin capsa. Doublet of case, cash, and chasse.

Possibly from obsolete French chas (“groove”, “enclosure”), from Old French, from Latin capsa (“box”). Or perhaps a shortening or derivative of enchase. Doublet of case, cash, and chasse.

Words formed from chase

Phrases with chase

4 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with chase

45 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about chase

What does chase mean?
Chase means the act of one who chases another; a pursuit.
What is chase in Hindi?
Chase in Hindi is पीछा करना (pīchā karnā). See Chase meaning in Hindi.
How do you use chase in a sentence?
But here's my number, so call me, maybe / And all the other boys try to chase me
What part of speech is chase?
Chase can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce chase?
Chase is pronounced /t͡ʃeɪs/.
What is the plural of chase?
The plural of chase is chases.

Words near chase in the dictionary

  1. chas
  2. Chas.
  3. chasable
  4. chasapiko
  5. chasapikos
  6. chase
  7. chase a rainbow
  8. chase after
  9. chase away
  10. Chase County
  11. Chase doll

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chase (page history and authors); Chase (page history and authors); chase (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chase (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); chase (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-chase.ogg, en-au-chase.ogg.

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