c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 5353 So moche viss hii ssolleþ hom bringe, Þat ech man ssal wondry of so gret cacchinge.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 58 Cahchynge, or drywynge a-wey or forthe, minatus, abactio.

c1456 R. Pecock Bk. Faith (Trin. Cambr.) (1909) 215 Neither eny othere man hath..eny othere hondis than whiche mowen faile in smyting, in cacching, and in holding in Goddis servyce.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 37^v Why couet we combraunse or cachyng of harme.

1571 A. Golding tr. J. Calvin Psalmes of Dauid with Comm. (xxxvii. 7) i. f. 142/2 Craftines and hurtfull catchinges.

1631 R. Bolton Instr. Right Comf. Affl. Consciences 73 Such goodly and glorious speeches are but as so many catchings and scrablings of a Man over head in water.

1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler ii. 48 I will not undertake the catching of a Trout till evening. View more context for this quotation

1658 tr. L. Lemnius Secret Miracles of Nature iv. vi. 252 He doth all his actions with..fallacy, catching, deceits, impostures, and dissembling tricks.

1744 A. Hamilton Itinerarium 9 Aug. in C. Bridenbaugh Gentleman's Progress (1992) 136 When they [sc. young ladies] go abroad they dress in a theatricall manner and seem to study the art of catching.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. x. iv. 30 The said Chicken..required the several Ceremonies of catching, killing, and picking, before it was brought to the Grid-iron.

1865 Williams Q. Aug. 66 The fine catching of Woodward, the scientific pitching of Whitman..won the admiration and applause of the Albany spectators.

1873 W. Black Princess of Thule xiv. 219 A quick catching of her breath.

1894 Rep. Appellate Courts Illinois 49 20 His injury was caused by the catching of his foot, and not by his attempt to cross the track.

1904 P. F. Warner How we recovered Ashes viii. 160 Rhodes bowled splendidly, as did Hirst, but our catching was wretched.

1960 Daily Mail 13 Feb. /3 There are tedious train rides through the night, breathless catchings of aeroplanes.

2000 Financial Times 2 Aug. 11/1 The Japanese Government maintains that the catching of whales is necessary to assess their impact on other sea life.

1700 S. Parker 6 Philos. Ess. 41 The cap'ring of a Beau, and the catchings of a dying Man..are alike the Symptoms and Consequences of Distemperature.

1745 J. Wall in Philos. Trans. 1744–5 (Royal Soc.) 43 218 I found him delirious, with convulsive Catchings in the Tendons.

1771 T. Smollett Humphry Clinker II. 107 Profound sleep, uninterrupted by any catching or convulsion.

1845 W. C. Bennett in Odd Fellows' Q. Mag. 8 412 Catchings up of legs and arms, Throwings back and small alarms.

a1883 C. H. Fagge Princ. & Pract. Med. (1886) I. 672 He then had frequent spasmodic catchings of the respiratory muscles.

1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 503/1 Catching-hook, a crochet-hook. A crook or animal-catching hook.

1907 J. E. Rice & R. C. Lawry New Poultry Appliances (Bull. Cornell Univ. Agric. Exper. Station No. 248) 226 Catching-hooks..save time in catching fowls and prevent much of the fright and injury which usually occurs on such occasions.

2009 J. L. Megyesi Joy keeping Chickens v. 121 A simple tool that is useful in catching timid hens is a catching hook, made up of a piece of sturdy wire that is hooked at the end.

1826 J. Atkinson Acct. Agric. & Grazing New S. Wales v. 99 The catching pen will be found very handy, for the purpose of catching young heifers.

1851 Sydney Morning Herald 13 Jan. (advt.) There is a strongly built wool shed..and sheep yards adjoining. The catching pens are all battened.

1954 Daily News-Bull. (Brookfield, Missouri) 21 Sept. 3/2 The catching pen should be..small enough so that only a few birds may be driven in at a time.

2003 Times 3 Oct. 16/4 The..study..investigated precisely how much force needs to be exerted to pull a sheep across the floor of the ‘catching pen’ to the shearer's workstation.

1840 Morning Reg. (Dublin) 11 July 2/2 Vessels..carrying salt from Liverpool to the various fishing stations on the east coast of Scotland, preparatory to the commencement of the catching season.

1891 Scribner's Mag. 10 470 During the planting-time [for oysters] as well as in the catching-season.

2016 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 15 July b 1/3 The federally regulated catching season ends Saturday and anglers are encouraged to get their fill from those waters before then.

?a1430 T. Hoccleve Ad Beatam Virginem (Huntington) l. 71 in Minor Poems (1970) i. 45 Lady myn, My soule fro the net..Of him þat waytith it to slee, thow keepe! His sotil snares, and cacchynge twyn.

1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) ii. xlv. f. xxxvi Nayles hoked and catchyng.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin vi. 106 Couetouse and cacchynge.

1579 E. Hake Newes out of Powles Churchyarde newly Renued viii. sig. H.i^v I see how thou canst soare aloft like hungry Hawke tespye And catching Kite, when pray shal spring, for beste game bent to flye.

1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas xxxv. 474 It is as fire to flaxe, an easie and welcome persuasion to busie and catching natures.

1632 G. Sandys tr. Ovid Metamorphosis (new ed.) vii. 248 The beast now pincht appeares, now shuns by slight His catching iawes.

1645 W. Greenhill Expos. Five First Chapters Ezekiel (ii. 6) 257 Like thorns in their catching nature; they catch hold of a man when he thinks he is rid of them, and intangle him more.

1717 T. H. Ridout tr. Lucan in Poems & Transl. 28 How oft when Sleep her weary'd Senses holds, The empty Cloathes with catching Arms she folds!

1753 G. West tr. Pindar Odes (new ed.) I. 279 The Harpies so their catching Hands elude.

1868 W. Barnes Poems Rural Life 80 No rust yet clogs its [sc. a clock's] catching cogs, To keep its wheels all still.

1881 G. Stebbing Only Tramp xi. 106 A perpetual unhooking of garments from catching thorns and obtrusive twigs.

2012 A. Donald Warlord (2013) 294 The path grew even narrower, thin questing shoots, spreading branches and catching brambles barring our path.

1603 R. Knolles Gen. Hist. Turkes 175 What to answere him vnto this his catching question.

1656 T. Larkham Disc. Paying of Tithes App. 42 That catching question moved to our Lord Jesus, Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar?

1754 Trial W. Mitchell 15 If such a question had been asked me, it must have been a catching question.

1839 T. Reynolds Life T. Reynolds I. ix. 457 A catching question cleverly put.

1880 D. R. Macalpin Law relating to Money-lenders & Borrowers 289 Catching bargains with ‘expectant heirs’ are set aside.

1910 C. A. Hawkins Legal Counselor & Form Bk. (rev. ed.) 548/2 ‘Catching conditions’, that is, conditions covertly placing the purchaser under disadvantage which he could not readily apprehend without legal knowledge or advice.

1959 Sugar News (Manila) May 221/1 In order to..broaden our outlook in discussing the sugar industry, it is well to be reminded of a catching question asked of a young man who was new in a sugar central.

1626 G. Sandys tr. Ovid Metamorphosis vi. 119 This sight in Tereus such a burning breeds, As when we..catching flames to Sun-dry'd stubble thrust.

1690 T. Burnet Theory of Earth iii. viii. 66 Still more catching and more combustible.

1742 R. Morris Fatal Necessity i. iii. 23 They're safer quench'd..Before the catching Flame expands its Force.

1882 Chronicle 20 Apr. 249/2 Fire is a good deal more ‘catching’ than small-pox and ought to be resorted to only in the last extremity.

1957 G. Garrett King of Mountain i. 15 It was a strange and precious feeling, as small as the first moment of a catching flame.

2015 E. Werner et al. Hartwood 32 You can use the high flames of a catching fire to heat up pans and boil water.

1820 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. & Surg. 9 61 There were catching pains and motions in the neck, back, and right side of the chest.

1839 Leeds Mercury 14 Dec. 1/5 (advt.) Catching pain in the side and chest, produced from coughing or difficulty of breathing.

1880 Lancet Mar. 240/1 Muscular pain of a catching nature, but no spasmodic jerking.

1906 Homœopathic Rec. Aug. 377 The catching, cramping character of the pain, which necessarily interferes with breathing and causes anxiety.

2004 Daily Mail (Nexis) 6 Apr. 49 The classic symptom is a catching pain in the groin when it's being flexed or rotated. Patients often think they have pulled a muscle.

1655 T. Fuller Hist. Univ. Cambr. ii. 37 in Church-hist. Brit. Carelesness of coals and candles, catchingness of Papers.

1884 Spectator 16 Feb. 221/2 The irresistible catchingness of Gay's ballads.

1906 Jrnl. Dept. Agric. (Victoria) 8 June 368 With abortion in cattle.., the associated fatalities and ‘catchingness’ are always decreasingly proportionate to the cleanliness of the surroundings.

2000 D. Haselbach in P. Koslowski Theory of Capitalism in German Econ. Trad. iii. 65 For the catchingness of the term, rather than for historical precision, I want to call this approach messianic liberalism.