catch-as-catch-can
Also catch-can . taking advantage of any opportunity; using any method that can be applied: He lived a catch-as-catch-can life as an itinerant handyman.
without specific plan or order: They traveled catch-as-catch-can, taking whatever bus or train was most convenient.
a style of wrestling in which the contestants are permitted to trip, tackle, and use holds below the waist.: Compare Greco-Roman (def. 3).
Origin of catch-as-catch-can
1Words Nearby catch-as-catch-can
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use catch-as-catch-can in a sentence
Anyhow, drawled the man from catch-as-catch-can, she wont go no more.
Every Man for Himself | Norman DuncanSam is a human firebrand, a dash of tabasco, a rough comedian and catch-as-catch-can joker.
Fore! | Charles Emmett Van LoanIt was a constantly changing battle, kaleidoscopic, free-for-all, catch-as-catch-can.
The supply of grape juice seems almost unlimited, yet coal is to be had catch-as-catch-can.
Mince PieAuthor: Christopher Darlington MorleyRelease Date: October 10, 2004 [eBook #13694] | Christopher Darlington MorleyIt was catch-as-catch-can in the darkness, and mostly the other fellow could and did.
Astounding Stories, March, 1931 | Various
British Dictionary definitions for catch-as-catch-can
a style of wrestling in which trips, holds below the waist, etc, are allowed
mainly US and Canadian using any method or opportunity that comes to hand
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Cultural definitions for catch-as-catch-can
A phrase that describes a situation in which people must improvise or do what they can with limited means: “We don't have enough textbooks for all of the students, so it'll be catch-as-catch-can.”
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with catch-as-catch-can
By whatever means or in any way possible, as in There was no formal language program; one simply learned Spanish catch as catch can. This term, in slightly varying versions but with the same meaning, dates from the late 1300s.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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