intercept

Verb

intercept (third-person singular simple present intercepts, present participle intercepting, simple past and past participle intercepted)

1. (transitive) To stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).
   • The police intercepted the package of stolen goods while it was in transit.
   • [T]he emotion grew ſo violent that it almost intercepted my reſpiration.1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 67
2. (transitive) To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
   1. (transitive) Of a defensive player: to steal a pass thrown by the opposing team, gaining possession of the ball.
3. (transitive) To take or comprehend between.
4. To perform an aeronautical action in which a fighter approaches a suspicious aircraft to escort it away from a prohibited area, or approaches an enemy aircraft to shoot it down.

Noun

UK/ˈɪntəsɛpt/US/ˈɪntɚsɛpt/

intercept (plural intercepts)

1. An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.
2. An interception of a missile.
3. The coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.
   • the y intercept
   • Because the horizontal-axis intercept occurs when y=0 and the vertical-axis intercept occurs when x=0, we can find the intercepts algebraically.2012, Alice Kaseberg, Greg Cripe, Peter Wildman, Introductory Algebra: Everyday Explorations, page 278
4. A form of market research where consumers are intercepted and interviewed in a retail store or mall.