/t͡ʃeɪs/
OriginFrom Middle English chacen, from Anglo-Norman chacer, Old French chacier, from Vulgar Latin *captiāre, from Latin captāre, frequentative of capere. Compare French chasser (“to hunt”, “to chase”), Spanish cazar (“to hunt”), Portuguese caçar (“to hunt”)
, see Norwegian skysse (“to hunt”).
Doublet of catch and related to capture. Displaced native Old English ōht, ēhtnes, and wāþ. Broadly overtook Old English huntaþ.
- countable, uncountableThe act of one who chases another; a pursuit.
- countable, uncountableA hunt; the act of hunting; the pursuit of game.
“By-and-by, she wandered away to an unnecessary revelation of her master's whereabouts: gone to help in the search for his landlord, the Sieur de Poissy, who lived at the château just above, and who ha”
“Through male bonding, the subculture of the hunt caught up in the mystique of the chase, the hunting party became a military force, and men discovered that they need not stop at defense: they could go”
- uncountableA children's game where one player chases another.
“Some children like to be caught when playing chase, and others do not.”
“So we played chase up and down the concourses of the airport.”
- British, countable, uncountableA large country estate where game may be shot or hunted.
“Outside, the stately oaks, rooted for ages in the green ground which has never known ploughshare, but was still a chase when kings rode to battle with sword and shield and rode a-hunting with bow and ”
- countable, uncountableAnything being chased, especially a vessel in time of war.
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA wild animal that is hunted.
“As touching the Harte and such other light chases or beasts of Uenerie, the huntesmen on horsebacke may followe theyr houndes alwayes by the same wayes that they saw him passe ouer,”
“Hold, Warwick, seek thee out some other chase,
For I myself must hunt this deer to death.”
- countable, uncountableAny of the guns that fire directly ahead or astern; either a bow chase or stern chase.
- countable, uncountableThe occurrence of a second bounce by the ball in certain areas of the court, giving the server the chance, later in the game, to "play off" the chase from the receiving end and possibly win the point.
- countable, uncountableA division of the floor of a gallery, marked by a figure or otherwise; the spot where a ball falls, and between which and the dedans the adversary must drive the ball in order to gain a point.
- countable, uncountableOne or more riders who are ahead of the peloton and trying to join the race or stage leaders.
- countable, uncountableA series of brief improvised jazz solos by a number of musicians taking turns.
- A rectangular steel or iron frame into which pages or columns of type are locked for printing or plate-making.
“The die-maker should work upon the surface of an imposing table. First, he places on the table the chase in which the die is to be locked up. Second, he fills in the chase with regular printer’s wood ”
- A groove cut in an object; a slot: the chase for the quarrel on a crossbow.
- A trench or channel or other encasement structure for encasing (archaically spelled enchasing) drainpipes or wiring; a hollow space in the wall of a building encasing ventilation ducts, chimney flues, wires, cables or plumbing.
- The part of a gun in front of the trunnions.
- The cavity of a mold.
- A kind of joint by which an overlap joint is changed to a flush joint by means of a gradually deepening rabbet, as at the ends of clinker-built boats.
- transitiveTo follow at speed.
- transitiveTo hunt.
- transitiveTo seek to attain.
“The team are chasing their first home win this season.”
- transitiveTo persistently pursue someone as a sexual or romantic partner.
“He spends all his free time chasing girls.”
“She was the girl, I know that now. But I pushed her away. So, I've spent every day since then chasing Amy… so to speak.”
“But here's my number, so call me, maybe / And all the other boys try to chase me”
- transitiveTo pursue a vessel in order to destroy, capture or interrogate her.
- transitiveTo consume another beverage immediately after drinking hard liquor, typically something better tasting or less harsh such as soda or beer; to use a drink as a chaser.
“I need something to chase this shot with.”
“John ordered quite a few drinks. I think I stopped at four. He kept ordering straight shots of tequila and chasing them with a beer. Then he’d tear off the filter on his cigarette before smoking it.”
- transitiveTo attempt to win by scoring the required number of runs in the final innings.
“Australia will be chasing 217 for victory on the final day.”
- transitiveTo swing at a pitch outside of the strike zone, typically an outside pitch.
“Jones chases one out of the zone for strike two.”
- transitiveTo produce enough offense to cause the pitcher to be removed.
“The rally chased the starter.”
- transitiveTo groove; indent.
- transitiveTo place piping or wiring in a groove encased within a wall or floor, or in a hidden space encased by a wall.
- transitiveTo cut (the thread of a screw).
- transitiveTo decorate (metal) by engraving or embossing.
- countable, uncountableA surname transferred from the nickname from a Middle English nickname for a hunter.
- countable, uncountableA unisex given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage.
““Chase Strangio is our nation’s leading legal expert on the rights of transgender people, bar none,” said Cecillia Wang, the ACLU’s legal director.”
““We’re in a moment in this country where transgender people in this country are under attack in lawless ways,” said Chase Strangio, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who represented ”
- countable, uncountableA village and river in British Columbia, Canada.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Madison County, Alabama.
- countable, uncountableA census-designated place in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Grant Township, Benton County, Indiana.
- countable, uncountableA city in Rice County, Kansas.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Franklin Parish, Louisiana.
- countable, uncountableAn unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland.
- countable, uncountableA township in Lake County, Michigan.
- countable, uncountableA census-designated place in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
- countable, uncountableA town and unincorporated community in Oconto County, Wisconsin.
- abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountableEllipsis of Chase County.
Formschases(plural) · chace(alternative) · chases(present, singular, third-person) · chasing(participle, present) · chased(participle, past) · chased(past) · Chases(plural)