catch basin

American  

noun

1. a receptacle, located where a street gutter opens into a sewer, designed to retain matter that would not readily pass through the sewer.

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catch basin British  

noun

1. Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): catch pit.  a pit in a drainage system in which matter that might otherwise block a sewer is collected so that it may periodically be removed

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Etymology

Origin of catch basin

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

At least one local sneaked onto the site earlier this year to collect and later privately test the catch basin soil.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2025

He thanked members of the California National Guard for clearing debris out of a catch basin that was constructed after the mudslide in order to divert rain.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 13, 2023

Just 40 feet long, it had been dug between the church and a hole cut in the side of an underground drainage pipe connecting a nearby rainwater catch basin to the Grand tunnel.

From BusinessWeek • Aug. 2, 2012

Finally, it should be clear even to non-actuaries that in this plan Medicaid would be the catch basin mainly for relatively sicker Americans, as it already is.

From New York Times • Apr. 13, 2012

The pool was actually a catch basin in the rock.

From The Blue Ghost Mystery by Goodwin, Harold L. (Harold Leland)