intercept

present singular third person intercepts · participle present intercepting · participle past intercepted · past intercepted · first person past singular intercepted · archaic present second person singular interceptest · past second person singular intercepted · archaic past second person singular interceptedst · present singular third person intercepts · archaic present singular third person intercepteth · past singular third person intercepted · past plural intercepted · past subjunctive intercepted · participle present intercepting · participle past intercepted

1. transitiveTo stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).

   The police intercepted the package of stolen goods while it was in transit.

   3 more examples

   [T]he emotion grew ſo violent that it almost intercepted my reſpiration.

   Fanny Hill

   1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 67

   The rights of men in ſociety, are neither deviſeable, nor transferable, nor annihilable, but are deſcendable only; and it is not in the power of any generation to intercept finally, and cut off the deſcent.

   1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution, London: […] J. S. Jordan, […], →OCLC, page 129

   I must admit to being genuinely shocked when I saw those letters in my file. I always suspected that mail was monitored, but it never occurred to me that mail would be intercepted and opened.

   1976 December 18, Allen Young, “Speaking Out”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 25, page 9

2. transitivehobbiesTo gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
   1. transitiveAmerican footballOf a defensive player: to steal a pass thrown by the opposing team, gaining possession of the ball.
3. transitivemathematicsTo take or comprehend between.
4. To perform an aeronautical action in which a fighter approaches a suspicious aircraft to escort it away from a prohibited area, or approaches an enemy aircraft to shoot it down.

plural intercepts

1. An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.
2. An interception of a missile.
3. algebraic geometryThe coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.

   the y intercept

   point at which a line crosses the y-axis

   1 more example

   Because the horizontal-axis intercept occurs when y=0 and the vertical-axis intercept occurs when x=0, we can find the intercepts algebraically.

   2012, Alice Kaseberg, Greg Cripe, Peter Wildman, Introductory Algebra: Everyday Explorations, page 278

4. businessA form of market research where consumers are intercepted and interviewed in a retail store or mall.