I. ˈchās verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English chacen, chasen, from Middle French chasser, from Old French chacier, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin captiare, from Latin captare to seize, strive after — more at catch
transitive verb
1.
a. : to follow usually rapidly and intently in order to or as if to trail or overtake, seize, molest, or do violence to : pursue
some police chasing a criminal in a taxi
a dog chasing a rabbit
the pirates chased the treasure galleon
children chasing each other in play
waves chased each other up the beach
b. : hunt
rose to chase the deer at five — Alfred Tennyson
c. : to follow or attend upon usually persistently and hopefully with the intention of attracting, alluring, or persuading into companionship or intimacy
a bobby-soxer chasing boys
a middle-aged man chasing women half his age
d. : to follow (as an ambulance) to the scene of an accident in order to solicit business
e. : to follow up (a strong drink) with a chaser
2. obsolete : persecute , harass
3. : to move usually rapidly in the direction of in order to observe, obtain, or find out about
children chasing a fire
library attendants chasing books called for by readers
salesmen chasing new orders
— sometimes used with down
detectives chased down all possible clues to the murder
4.
a. : to cause to depart or flee especially by the use of or threat of violence or other harassment : drive , expel , dispel
love hath chased sleep from my enthralled eyes — Shakespeare
I'll chase the whole rebel army all the way to South Carolina — Kenneth Roberts
chase cattle out of a wheat field
b. slang : to take (oneself) off
go chase yourself; you're too small to play with us
c. baseball : to cause the removal of (as a pitcher by a batting rally) or oust from a game
intransitive verb
1. : to chase an animal, person, or thing — usually used with after
the children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines — 1 Sam 17: 53 (Authorized Version)
chasing after material possessions
a girl who chases after boys
2. : rush , hasten
chasing all over town looking for a place to stay
Synonyms: see follow
II. noun
also chace “
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English chace, chase, from Old French chace, from chacier, v.
1.
a. : the act of pursuing for the purpose of seizing, capturing, molesting, doing violence, or killing : pursuit
b. : the searching out and pursuit of wild animals for the purpose of killing them as an occupation or sport — used with the ; see hunting
c. : the act of pursuing for the purpose of putting to flight : rout
d. : a usually earnest or frenzied seeking after something greatly desired
this mad chase of fame — John Dryden
the excitements of the intellectual chase — R.W.Southern
2. : something pursued (as a hunted animal or a ship) : quarry
3.
a. English law : a liberty or franchise to hunt within certain limits of land not necessarily owned by the one having the liberty or of keeping beasts of chase therein
b. in England : a tract of unenclosed land used as a game preserve usually distinguished from a forest in being smaller, having fewer law-enforcement officers, and being sometimes private property — compare forest , park , warren
4. : a stroke in court tennis similar to a placement in lawn tennis which requires that the players replay the point ; also : the point so replayed
5. dialect : a lane between fields on a farm
6. obsolete : the chase guns of a ship ; also : the part of a ship in which the chase ports are
7. : the length of yarn in one traverse of the winding faller in winding the cop in cotton spinning
8.
[by shortening]
: steeplechase
9. : a sequence of a melodrama or now usually of a motion picture representing the pursuit of one character by others
III. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English chasen, modification of Middle French enchasser to set (as a jewel) — more at enchase
1.
a. : to ornament (a metal, especially silver, surface) by indenting with a hammer and tools without a cutting edge
b. : to make (as a decoration) by such indentation
c. : to set especially with gems
2. : to cut (a thread) with a chaser
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: French chas eye of a needle, space between beams, compartment of a house, from Old French, from Late Latin capsus enclosed space in a house, nave of a church, bladder, from Latin, cage, part of a wagon, alteration of capsa box — more at case
1.
a. obsolete : the furrow on a crossbow in which the arrow lies
b. obsolete : the bore of a cannon
c. : the part of a cannon from the trunnions or part where trunnions would be if the piece had them to the mouth or the swell of the muzzle — see cannon illustration
2. : a groove or channel for something to lie in or pass through: as
a. : trench
b. : a channel in the inner face of a masonry wall of a building to provide space for pipes, ducts, or wiring
c. : a groove cut lengthwise for the reception of a part to make a joint
3. : a kind of joint in ship building 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)
V. transitive verb
: groove , indent
VI. noun
( -s )
Etymology: probably from French châsse frame — more at chasse
1.
a. : a rectangular steel or iron frame into which letterpress matter is locked for printing or plating — compare form
b. : any of certain analogous devices (as for holding work in photocomposing and duplicating machines or for holding carton-cutting dies)
2. : typeset matter before it is placed in a chase