Meanings
verbcatch as catch can (third-person singular simple present catches as catch can, present participle catching as catch can, no simple past or past participle)
present singular third person catches as catch can · participle present catching as catch can
- idiomaticimperativeno pastparticiplepastTo use any available means or methods.
Which being done, the Women run in the dark to catch as catch can; and whatever Lot they light on,[…]
1698, John Fryer, “Carries Us to Jelfa; Where Is Treated of the Gabers, or Original Persians, the Armenians, Georgians, and Europe Artisans”, in A New Account of East-India and Persia, in Eight Letters. Being Nine Years Travels, Begun 1672. And Finished 1681. […], London: […] R[obert] R[oberts] for Ri[chard] Chiswell, letter V (Travels into Persia), page 266
Cite this entry
APA
catch as catch can. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catch%20as%20catch%20can
MLA
“catch as catch can.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catch%20as%20catch%20can. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “catch as catch can,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/catch%20as%20catch%20can.
Source: catch as catch can on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.