Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. one who is seen as matrimonially desirable; often in phrs. a good catch, no catch.

[1593		Shakespeare Taming of the Shrew II i: bap.: The gain I seek is quiet in the match. gre.: No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch].
1748–49		Cleland Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1985) 215: Your surprize that one of my blood and relish of life, should count a gallant of threescore such a catch.
1835		‘Thomas Brown’ Fudge Family in England 2: Sole encumbrance, Miss Fudge to be taken therewith. / Think, my boy, for a Curate how glorious a catch!
1842		Comic Almanack Oct. 333: Angelina Ampletin was one of the prettiest girls in Pimlico, and, if there was any truth in rumour, very far from one of the worst catches.
1865		H. Kingsley Hillyars and Burtons (1870) 3: He will [...] have ten thousand a year [...] He will be a catch for some one.
1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 31: You wouldn’t believe Sal Grogan, that poor, distorted wretch, / Was ever a fine young woman, and reckoned a decent catch.
1887		‘A Plain Woman’ Poor Nellie I 36: He was not much of a catch.
1890		Bird o’ Freedom 1 Jan. 3/2: ‘Ma’ thought him a catch.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 35: Sam Cardew, with his bandages and his grunts and groans, was no great catch after all.
1929		D.H. Clarke In the Reign of Rothstein 220: All the girls had their best smiles oiled up for use on Sherwood. He was another good catch.
1936		(con. 1800s) ‘The Bell Witch of Tennessee and Mississippi’ in A.P. Hudson Humor of the Old Deep South 439: He was a catch for any girl.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 48: He was also a power in the Foot. He was a desirable and flattering catch.
1957		Kerouac On The Road (1972) 74: Lee [...] looked forward to meeting his stepfather; she thought he might be a catch.
1963		‘Geoffrey Tolhurst’ Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 12: All the girls said he was a good catch, and I was crazy not to marry him.
1966		C. Stead Cotters’ England (1980) 73: He’s not much of a catch. He’s going bald and [...] he’s got bad feet too.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 128: Cuthbert is frightfully rich and would be quite a catch for any girl, even if he is a chinless wonder.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 123: Dana thinks Timothy is a ‘catch’.
2000		Observer Rev. 30 Jan. 2: As a short William Hague lookalike, I wasn’t much of a catch.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 659: Frankly he wasn’t top catch. Not like pike. More like roach or perch if you follow.

2. (UK Und.) a thief’s booty, a stolen item.

1836		Comic Almanack Sept. 63: We’d quite a catch in Ha’penny Hatch, / And never paid a farden.
1877		Five Years’ Penal Servitude 244: Well, as it was her catch, I thought as I’d consult along of her whether we should take the £200.

3. anything desirable.

1905		Sporting Times 4 Mar. 1/5: Yes, yes; but where’s the ‘catch’ in it; there’s nobody to bet with up here.
1908		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘The Lure of the Lucre’ Sporting Times 1 Aug. 1/4: She says it’s no catch waitin’ ’arf a ’undred years for me / When the old man’s ripe for pluckin’ off the matrimonial tree.
1910		Wodehouse Psmith in the City (1993) 147: This bank business is far from being much of a catch.

4. (US black) a woman, esp. a woman recruited into prostitution; thus catching, seducing a woman into prostitution.

1994

C. Major Juba to Jive.

5. (US black) the number of clients a prostitute has serviced within a given time.

1983

R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].