Definition of "intercept"

intercept

/ɪntəˈsɛpt/

verb
third-person singular simple present intercepts, present participle intercepting, simple past and past participle intercepted
1. (transitive) To stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).
  Quotations
  [T]he emotion grew ſo violent that it almost intercepted my reſpiration.
  1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], page 67
  The rights of men in ſociety, are neither deviſeable, nor transferable, nor annihilable, but are deſcendable only; and it is not in the power of any generation to intercept finally, and cut off the deſcent.
  1791, Thomas Paine, Rights of Man: Being an Answer to Mr. Burke’s Attack on the French Revolution, London: […] J. S. Jordan, […], page 129
2. (transitive, sports) To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
  1. (transitive, American football) Of a defensive player: to steal a pass thrown by the opposing team, gaining possession of the ball.
3. (transitive, mathematics) To take or comprehend between.
4. To perform an aeronautical action in which a fighter approaches a suspicious aircraft to escort it away from a prohibited area, or approaches an enemy aircraft to shoot it down.
noun
plural intercepts
1. An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.
2. An interception of a missile.
3. (algebraic geometry) The coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.
  Quotations
  Because the horizontal-axis intercept occurs when y=0 and the vertical-axis intercept occurs when x=0, we can find the intercepts algebraically.
  2012, Alice Kaseberg, Greg Cripe, Peter Wildman, Introductory Algebra: Everyday Explorations, page 278
4. (marketing) A form of market research where consumers are intercepted and interviewed in a retail store or mall.

Definition of "intercept"

intercept

verb

Quotations

noun

Quotations