to catch a tartar
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
To catch a troublesome prisoner; to have dealings with a person who is more than a match for one; to think that one is going to manage a person, only to find it is no easy job.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to catch a tartar” mean?
To catch a troublesome prisoner; to have dealings with a person who is more than a match for one; to think that one is going to manage a person, only to find it is no easy job.
Is “to catch a tartar” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.