Word.ws English Dictionary

ketch

/kɛt͡ʃ/

ketch noun: a fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post. Also the pronunciation spelling of catch.

ketch: a fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped...
Image: Bengt Oberger, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

ketch (plural ketches)

  1. A fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
    • […] to finish her new Habit or Appearance, and make her Change compleat, he ordered her Sails to be alter’d; and as she sailed before with a Half-Sprit, like a Yacht, she sailed now with square Sail and Mizen Mast, like a Ketch; so that, in a Word, she was a perfect Cheat […]1720, Daniel Defoe, Captain Singleton, London: J. Brotherton et al, page 313

Verb

ketch (third-person singular simple present ketches, present participle ketching, simple past and past participle ketched)

  1. (rare) To hang.
    • Well! If he has a mind to be Ketch'd, speed him say I.n.d., Ibid;;. No. 18
    • I'll ketch you; I'll hang you.1859, MATSELL Vocab. s.v. (Farmer)

Noun (2)

ketch (plural ketches)

  1. A hangman.
    • 'Squire Ketch rejoices as much to hear of a new Vox, as an old Sexton does to hear of a new Delight.1681, T. FLATMAN Heraclitus Ridens No. 14
    • Ignorant of many of the secrets of ketchcraft.[1840, Fraser's Mag., number XXI, page 210

Noun (3)

ketch (plural ketches)

  1. (UK, dialectal) A pie or turnover.

Noun (4) capitalized: Ketch

Ketch (plural Ketches)

  1. Synonym of Jack Ketch (“a public executioner”).
    • Hanging was indeed the popular remedy for all criminal disorders. The legislator found patients for it, the judge prescribed it, and the Ketch administered it with the same callous and gallows indifference.1882, Thomas Hood, The Works of Thomas Hood, Comic and Serious, page 288
    Synonyms:
    Jack Ketch

Also used as

ketch is also the pronunciation spelling of catch.

Synonyms of ketch

All synonyms of ketch

Forms of ketch

Noun
pluralketches
pluralKetches
Verb
third-person singular presentketches
present participleketching
past participleketched
pastketched

Origin of ketch

From Middle English catche, from cacchen (“to catch”). For the modern form with /ɛ/, compare the pronunciation /kɛtʃ/ of catch.

See catch.

From Jack Ketch, a hangman of the 17th century.

Words formed from ketch

Phrases with ketch

Words that rhyme with ketch

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about ketch

What does ketch mean?
Ketch means a fore-and-aft rigged sailing vessel with two masts, main and mizzen, the mizzen being stepped forward of the rudder post.
What part of speech is ketch?
Ketch can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce ketch?
Ketch is pronounced /kɛt͡ʃ/.
What is the plural of ketch?
The plural of ketch is ketches.

Words near ketch in the dictionary

  1. ketates
  2. ketazine
  3. ketazines
  4. ketazocine
  5. ketazolam
  6. ketch
  7. ketcha
  8. Ketcham
  9. Ketchams
  10. ketched
  11. Ketchem

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ketch (page history and authors); Ketch (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ketch.wav.

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