chase
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) chacier, from captio. Akin to catch.
Noun
(en noun )
The act of one who chases another; a pursuit.
A hunt.
(uncountable) A children’s game where one player chases another.
* 1996 , Marla Pender McGhee, Quick & Fun Learning Activities for 1 Year Olds (page 25)
- Some children like to be caught when playing chase , and others do not.
* 2009 , Martin J. Levin, We Were Relentless: A Family’s Journey to Overcome Disability (page 41)
- So we played chase up and down the concourses of the airport.
(British) A large country estate where game may be shot or hunted.
Anything being chased, especially a vessel in time of war.
* Shakespeare
- Nay, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase , / For I myself must hunt this deer to death.
(nautical) Any of the guns that fire directly ahead or astern; either a bow chase or stern chase.
(real tennis) The occurrence of a second bounce by the ball in certain areas of the court, giving the server the chance, later in the game, to “play off” the chase from the receiving end and possibly win the point.
(real tennis) A division of the floor of a gallery, marked by a figure or otherwise; the spot where a ball falls, and between which and the dedans the adversary must drive the ball in order to gain a point.
Derived terms
* cut to the chase
* wild-goose chase
Verb
(chas)
To pursue, to follow at speed.
To hunt.
To give chase; to hunt.
- to chase around after a doctor
(nautical) To pursue a vessel in order to destroy, capture or interrogate her.
To dilute alcohol.
- Chase vodka with orange juice to make a screwdriver.
(cricket) To attempt to win by scoring the required number of runs in the final innings.
- Australia will be chasing 217 for victory on the final day.
(baseball) To swing at a pitch outside of the strike zone, typically an outside pitch
- Jones chases one out of the zone for strike two.
(baseball) To produce enough offense to cause the pitcher to be removed
- The rally chased the starter.
Derived terms
* chase after
* chase one’s tail
* chase rainbows
* chase the dragon
Etymology 2
Perhaps from (etyl) , from (etyl) chasse, from (etyl) capsa.
Noun
(en noun )
(printing) A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate making.
Etymology 3
Possibly from obsolete French , from (etyl), from Latin capsa, box. V., variant of “enchase”.
Noun
(en noun )
A groove cut in an object; a slot: the chase for the quarrel on a crossbow.
(architecture) A trench or channel for drainpipes or wiring; an hollow space in the wall of a building containing ventilation ducts, chimney flues, wires, cables or plumbing.
The part of a gun in front of the trunnions.
The cavity of a mold.
(shipbuilding) A kind of joint by which an overlap joint is changed to a flush joint by means of a gradually deepening rabbet, as at the ends of clinker-built boats.
Verb
(chas)
To groove; indent.
To cut (the thread of a screw).
To decorate (metal) by engraving or embossing.
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it
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m) ( > English dialectal . More at (l).
Pronoun
The third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to an inanimate object, to an inanimate thing with no or unknown sex or gender.
- Put it over there.
- Take each day as it comes.
A third-person singular personal pronoun used to refer to a child of unknown gender.
- She took the baby and held it in her arms.
* 1847 , Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre , Chapter IV:
- A child cannot quarrel with its‘ elders, as I had done; cannot give ‘ its furious feelings uncontrolled play, as I had given mine, without experiencing afterwards the pang of remorse and the chill of reaction.
Used to refer to oneself when identifying oneself, often on the phone, but not limited to this situation.
- It’ s me. John.
The impersonal pronoun, used without referent as the subject of an impersonal verb or statement. (known as the dummy pronoun or weather it)
- It is nearly 10 o’clock.
- It ’s very cold today.
- It ’s lonely without you.
The impersonal pronoun, used as a placeholder for a delayed subject, or less commonly, object. (known as the dummy pronoun or, more formally in linguistics, a syntactic expletive)
- It is easy to see how she would think that.
- I find it odd that you would say that.
- He saw to it that everyone would vote for him.
All or the end; something after which there is no more.
- Are there more students in this class, or is this it ?
- That’s it —I’m not going to any more candy stores with you.
(obsolete, relative) That which; what.
* 1643 , (Thomas Browne), Religio Medici , II.2:
- In briefe, I am content, and what should providence add more? Surely this is it wee call Happinesse, and this doe I enjoy […].
: See for other personal pronouns.
Derived terms
(Derived terms)
* buy it
* do it
* for it
* move it
* that’s it
* watch it
See also
* he
* her
* him
* I
* me
* she
* thee
* them
* they
* thou
* us
* we
* ye
* you
Noun
(en noun )
One who is neither a he nor a she; a creature; a dehumanized being.
* 1995 , Neil Weiner, Sharon E. Robinson Kurpius, Shattered innocence (page 8)
- Too often, children become an “it ” in their homes and their humanness is devalued.
* 1920 , (Herman Cyril McNeile), Bulldog Drummond Chapter 1
- His master glanced up quickly, and removed the letter from his hands. “I’m surprised at you, James,” he remarked severely. “A secretary should control itself. Don’t forget that the perfect secretary is an it : an automatic machine—a thing incapable of feeling.…”
The person who chases and tries to catch the other players in the playground game of tag.
- In the next game, Adam and Tom will be it …
* 2000 , Katherine T. Thomas, Amelia M. Lee, Jerry R. Thomas, Physical education for children (page 464)
- When there are only two children left who haven’t been tagged, I will stop the game, and we will start over with those children starting as the Its .
(British, uncountable) The game of tag.
- Let’s play it at breaktime.
Adjective
(–)
(colloquial) most fashionable.
* Vibe , Vol. 15, No. 9, p. 202, September 2007:
- Going away for the weekend and feel the need to profile en route? This is the “it ” bag.
* David Germain, Hilarious ‘Kick-Ass’ delivers bloody fun , Associated Press, 2010:
- With Hit Girl, Moretz is this year’s It Girl, alternately sweet, savage and scary.
Etymology 2
Abbreviation
(Abbreviation)
(head)
(language) Italian.
Italy.
Derived terms
* gin and it, gin-and-It
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