to catch on
Preserved but no longer current.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Examples
She doesn't seem to be able to catch on to what he is saying.Cô ấy trông chả hiểu anh ấy đang nói gì hết.
She doesn't seem to be able to catch on to what he is saying.Cô ấy trông chả hiểu anh ấy đang nói gì hết.
Tatoeba sentence #316207 (CC BY 2.0 FR, tatoeba.org, retrieved 2026-07-31)
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 on” mean?
To make its way; to become popular. As in One can never tell what sort of song will catch on with the public, but the one that does is a little gold mine.
Is “to catch on” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.