chase
/t͡ʃeɪs/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms chases chasing chased chace
- noun The act of one who chases another; a pursuit.
- noun A hunt; the act of hunting; the pursuit of game.
- noun (uncountable) A children's game where one player chases another.
- noun (UK) A large country estate where game may be shot or hunted.
- noun Anything being chased, especially a vessel in time of war.
- noun (obsolete) A wild animal that is hunted.
- noun (nautical) Any of the guns that fire directly ahead or astern; either a bow chase or stern chase.
- noun (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.
- verb (transitive) To follow at speed.
- verb (transitive) To hunt.
- verb (transitive) To seek to attain. “The team are chasing their first home win this season.”
- verb (transitive) To persistently pursue someone as a sexual or romantic partner. “He spends all his free time chasing girls.”
- verb (transitive, nautical) To pursue a vessel in order to destroy, capture or interrogate her.
- verb (transitive) To consume another beverage immediately after drinking hard liquor, typically something better tasting or less harsh such as soda or beer; to use a drink as a chaser. “I need something to chase this shot with.”
- verb (transitive, 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.”
- verb (transitive, 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.”
- noun (printing) A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate-making.
- noun A groove cut in an object; a slot: the chase for the quarrel on a crossbow.
- noun (architecture) A trench or channel or other encasement structure for encasing (archaically spelled enchasing) drainpipes or wiring; a hollow space in the wall of a building encasing ventilation ducts, chimney flues, wires, cables or plumbing.
- noun The part of a gun in front of the trunnions.
Synonyms
game pursue pursuit pursual following Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase chase after trail tail tag give chase dog go after track furrow chamfer
Etymology
From Middle English chacen, from Anglo-Norman chacer, Old French chacier, from Vulgar Latin *captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Compare French chasser (“to hunt”, “to chase”), Spanish cazar (“to hunt”), Portuguese caçar (“to hunt”)
, see Norwegian skysse (“to hunt”).
Doublet of catch and related to capture. Displaced native Old English ōht, ēhtnes, and wāþ. Broadly overtook Old English huntaþ.
Perhaps from French châsse (“case”, “reliquary”), from Old French chasse, from Latin capsa. Doublet of case, cash, and chasse.
Possibly from obsolete French chas (“groove”, “enclosure”), from Old French, from Latin capsa (“box”). Or perhaps a shortening or derivative of enchase. Doublet of case, cash, and chasse.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To pursue for the purpose of killing or taking, as an enemy, or game; to hunt.
- verb To follow as if to catch; to pursue; to compel to move on; to drive by following; to cause to fly; --often with away or off; as, to chase the hens away.
- verb To give chase; to hunt; as, to chase around after a doctor.
- noun Vehement pursuit for the purpose of killing or capturing, as of an enemy, or game; an earnest seeking after any object greatly desired; the act or habit of hunting; a hunt. "This mad chase of fame." Dryden.
Etymology [OF. chacier, F. chasser, fr. (assumed) LL. captiare, fr. L. captare to strive to seize. See Catch.]
Etymology [Cf. F. chasse, fr. chasser. See Chase, v.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “chase”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details