Meaning
The act of seizing or capturing.
Etymology
Origin: Old English
Etymology tree substratebor.? Proto-Indo-European *kap- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *kapyéti Proto-Indo-European *kaptós Proto-Italic *kaptos Latin captus Proto-Indo-European *-yetider. Latin -io Vulgar Latin *captiāre Old French chacierbor. Anglo-Norman cachierbor. Middle English cacchen English catch From Middle English cacchen, from Anglo-Norman cachier, variant of Old French chacier, from Late Latin captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Akin to Modern French chasser (from Old French chacier) and Spanish cazar, and thus a doublet of chase. Compare ketch. Via PIE cognate with have. Displaced Middle English fangen ("to catch"; > Modern English fang (verb)), from Old English fōn (“to seize, take”); Middle English lacchen ("to catch" and heavily displaced Modern English latch), from Old English læċċan. The verb became irregular, possibly under the influence of the semantically similar latch (from Old English læċċan), whose past tense was lahte, lauhte, laught (Old English læhte), until becoming regularised in Modern English.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms
NYT Puzzle Appearances
Accepted in 16 recorded puzzles:
- 2026-09-20HACEILT
- 2026-08-09HACELOT
- 2026-07-22TACDHKR
- 2026-06-15HACEIPT
- 2025-12-03HUATMCP
- 2025-05-15HTAMECK
- 2025-03-19CYATNIH
- 2024-11-07TACEHUX
- 2024-10-22AUCTRIH
- 2024-10-02HAMECIT
- 2024-09-18CATMHPU
- 2024-07-20HACIORT
+4 earlier appearances in the archive.