catch on

verb

1. to become popular or fashionable

2. to grasp mentally; understand

Idioms and Phrases

Understand, as in Aunt Mary doesn't catch on to any jokes . The verb to catch alone was used with this meaning from Shakespeare's time, on being added in the late 1800s. Also see get it , def. 2.

Become popular, as in This new dance is really beginning to catch on . [Late 1800s]

Related Words

• catch 
• determine 
• discover 
• feature 
• feel 
• follow 
• get 
• have 
• hear 
• know 
• learn 
• notice 
• observe 
• perceive 
• realize 
• recognize 
• study 
• suffer 
• think 
• understand