The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Catch \Catch\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Caughtor Catched; p. pr.
   & vb. n. Catching. Catched is rarely used.] [OE. cacchen,
   OF. cachier, dialectic form of chacier to hunt, F. chasser,
   fr. (assumend) LL. captiare, for L. capture, V. intens. of
   capere to take, catch. See Capacious, and cf. Chase,
   Case a box.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. To lay hold on; to seize, especially with the hand; to
      grasp (anything) in motion, with the effect of holding;
      as, to catch a ball.
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   2. To seize after pursuing; to arrest; as, to catch a thief.
      "They pursued . . . and caught him." --Judg. i. 6.
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   3. To take captive, as in a snare or net, or on a hook; as,
      to catch a bird or fish.
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   4. Hence: To insnare; to entangle. "To catch him in his
      words". --Mark xii. 13.
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   5. To seize with the senses or the mind; to apprehend; as, to
      catch a melody. "Fiery thoughts . . . whereof I catch the
      issue." --Tennyson.
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   6. To communicate to; to fasten upon; as, the fire caught the
      adjoining building.
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   7. To engage and attach; to please; to charm.
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            The soothing arts that catch the fair. --Dryden.
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   8. To get possession of; to attain.
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            Torment myself to catch the English throne. --Shak.
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   9. To take or receive; esp. to take by sympathy, contagion,
      infection, or exposure; as, to catch the spirit of an
      occasion; to catch the measles or smallpox; to catch cold;
      the house caught fire.
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   10. To come upon unexpectedly or by surprise; to find; as, to
       catch one in the act of stealing.
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   11. To reach in time; to come up with; as, to catch a train.
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   To catch fire, to become inflamed or ignited.

   to catch it to get a scolding or beating; to suffer
      punishment. [Colloq.]

   To catch one's eye, to interrupt captiously while speaking.
      [Colloq.] "You catch me up so very short." --Dickens.

   To catch up, to snatch; to take up suddenly.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Catching \Catch"ing\ a.
   1. Infectious; contagious.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Captivating; alluring.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Catching \Catch"ing\, n.
   The act of seizing or taking hold of.
   [1913 Webster]

   Catching bargain (Law), a bargain made with an heir
      expectant for the purchase of his expectancy at an
      inadequate price. --Bouvier.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

catching
    adj 1: (of disease) capable of being transmitted by infection
           [syn: catching, communicable, contagious,
           contractable, transmissible, transmittable]
    n 1: (baseball) playing the position of catcher on a baseball
         team
    2: the act of detecting something; catching sight of something
       [syn: detection, catching, espial, spying,
       spotting]
    3: becoming infected; "catching cold is sometimes unavoidable";
       "the contracting of a serious illness can be financially
       catastrophic" [syn: catching, contracting]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

97 Moby Thesaurus words for "catching":
   alluring, annexational, appealing, appetizing, attractive,
   beguiling, bewitching, blandishing, cajoling, captivating,
   charismatic, charming, coaxing, come-hither, communicable,
   confiscatory, contagious, coquettish, deadly, deprivative,
   destructive, enchanting, endemic, engaging, enravishing,
   enthralling, enticing, entrancing, envenomed, epidemial, epidemic,
   epiphytotic, epizootic, exciting, exotic, expropriatory,
   fascinating, fetching, flirtatious, glamorous, hypnotic,
   infectious, infective, inoculable, interesting, intriguing,
   inviting, irresistible, malign, malignant, mephitic, mesmeric,
   miasmal, miasmatic, miasmic, mouth-watering, noxious, pandemic,
   pestiferous, pestilential, piquant, poisonous, prepossessing,
   privative, provocative, provoquant, ravishing, seducing, seductive,
   siren, sirenic, spellbinding, spellful, sporadic, spreading,
   taking, tantalizing, teasing, tempting, thievish, tickling,
   titillating, titillative, toxic, toxicant, toxiferous,
   transmissible, transmittable, venenate, veneniferous, venenous,
   venomous, virulent, winning, winsome, witching, zymotic