catcher
(ˈkætʃə(r))
[f. catch v. + -er1.]
† 1. One who chases or drives; huntsman, driver. (Cf. catch v. 1.) Obs. rare.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1139 Þenne þise cacheres þat couþe, cowpled her houndez. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 57 Cahchare or dryvare, minator, abactor. |
2. One who or that which catches, in various current senses of the verb.
| c 1400 Test. Love Prol., This booke..is..so drawe togider to maken the catchers [1560 calthers] therof ben the more ready to hent sentence. 1541 Paynell Catiline iii. 4 A waster of his owne goodes, and a catcher of other mennes. 1553 Bale Vocacyon in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) I. 329 Deliuered from the snare of the catcher. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 18 The rough net is not the best catcher of burdis. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 219 The catcher now is caught. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Rudacke v. 6 Watchers thereon..And catchers thereat. 1635 N. R. tr. Camden's Hist. Eliz. ii. an. 14. 143 What jests lewd catchers of words made. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 137 The natives catch them with bird-lime..the catchers kill them immediately. 1872 Daily News 13 July, The name of a new bowler or catcher. 1886 F. H. Burnett Little Ld. Fauntleroy 122 The attitudes of pitcher and catcher and batter in the real game. |
b. techn.
| 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Vall. iv. 61 The roller and his catcher who stand on each side of the rolling machine. 1861 Smiles Workmen's Earn. 27 Rate of wages..Rollers {pstlg}5 10s. 0d... Catchers to ditto {pstlg}1 10s. 0d. |
† 3. One who sings in a catch. Obs. rare—1.
| 1641 Brome Jov. Crew iv. i. Wks. 1873 III. 419 Where be my Catchers? Come a Round. |
4. Comb. catcher-warp, part of a loom.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 390/2 The catcher-warps..put in to hold down the chenille by its ‘back-bone’. |