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• catch-as-catch-can
  catch-as-catch-can

  adjective

  Also catch-can taking advantage of any opportunity; using any method that can be applied.
• catch as catch can
  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.

catch-as-catch-can

American  

[kach-uhz-kach-kan] / ˈkætʃ əzˈkætʃˈkæn /

adjective

1. 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.

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adverb

1. without specific plan or order.

   They traveled catch-as-catch-can, taking whatever bus or train was most convenient.

noun

1. a style of wrestling in which the contestants are permitted to trip, tackle, and use holds below the waist.

catch-as-catch-can British  

noun

1. a style of wrestling in which trips, holds below the waist, etc, are allowed

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adjective

1. using any method or opportunity that comes to hand

catch-as-catch-can Cultural  

1. 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.”

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catch as catch can Idioms  

1. 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.

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Etymology

Origin of catch-as-catch-can

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

catch-as-catch-can catch as catch can

The catch-as-catch-can “system” of aftercare for school children is a disaster.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 14, 2023

This is a record of the movie year as I experienced it: fragmentary, catch-as-catch-can, often out of sync with “the conversation” yet somehow astonishingly timely.

From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2020

O’Brien’s ensemble mixes realism with contemporary classicism in a catch-as-catch-can way.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2019

It would replace “obsolescent housing and catch-as-catch-can maintenance” with “a nirvana of planned Neighborhoods.”

From Reuters ● Dec. 27, 2018

"We always rassled catch-as-catch-can, and you know it," declared Harding.

From John Henry Smith A Humorous Romance of Outdoor Life by Frederick Upham Adams

Rare is the algorithm that would promote it; and the CD version, from the Koch label, is catch as catch can on the secondhand marketplace.

From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

The relationships we had were primarily transactional, catch as catch can.

From Forbes ● Aug. 23, 2012

Day care is still catch as catch can.

From Time Magazine Archive

Or they could allow the actors to trace their familiar patterns, asprawl on the big stage, and catch as catch can.

From Time Magazine Archive

The first glimmer I gets was when I finds Joe in the front office one day, planted before the big lookin' glass, havin' a catch as catch can with his hair.

From Side-stepping with Shorty by Sewell Ford