catchword

plural catchwords

1. historicalmediaA word at the end of a book page that repeats the first word from the following page. (Such words served as aids to the bookbinder (to check rapidly for correct placement of leaves) and were also viewed by some readers as aids to smooth reading.)First known use 17th c.

   Near-synonym: custos

   1 more example

   While he prayed he knelt on his red handkerchief and read above his breath from a thumb blackened prayerbook wherein catchwords were printed at the foot of every page.

   1916, James Joyce, chapter II, in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, New York, N.Y.: B[enjamin] W. Huebsch, →OCLC

   Synonyms: guideword, custos

2. A word or expression repeated until it becomes representative of a particular group or time; a slogan or buzzword.First known use 18th c.

   One could give a long list of such intellectual fashions and catchwords which in the course of two or three generations have in turn dominated the thinking of the intellectual.

   1949, F. A. Hayek, “The Intellectuals and Socialism”, in University of Chicago Law Review, volume 16, number 3, Chicago: University of Chicago, →DOI, page 424

   1 more example

   The war itself has several names, including "the famine war" (ḥarb al-majā'a) and seferberlik, a Turkish word, meaning "travel by land," that began its wartime career as a reference to "military conscription" but quickly became a catchword for all the calamities and suffering experienced by civilians.

   2014 November, Najwa al-Qattan, “When mothers ate their children”, in International Journal of Middle East Studies, volume 46, number 4, →JSTOR, pages 719–736

   Synonyms: watchword, byword

3. entertainmentThe last word of a speech, serving as a cue for the next speaker.First known use 18th c.
4. A word printed (often in large or bold type) at the head of a page or other section of text, serving to draw a reader's attention or summarise contents, especially in a reference work; a heading.First known use 19th c.