fair catch

Also found in: Thesaurus, Acronyms, Wikipedia.

fair catch

n. Football

A catch of a kicked ball by a receiving player who has signaled the intention not to run with the ball and who may not be hit if making no attempt to advance the ball after catching it.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fair′ catch′

a catch of a kicked football made after the receiving team signals that it will not attempt to advance the ball.

[1855–60]

fair catch

1. Catch of a kicked ball by a player who signals by raising a hand at arm’s length above his head. He may not advance the ball and may not be tackled.

2. See mark.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun

fair catch - (American football) a catch of a punt on the fly by a defensive player who has signalled that he will not run and so should not be tackled

snap, grab, snatch, catch - the act of catching an object with the hands; "Mays made the catch with his back to the plate"; "he made a grab for the ball before it landed"; "Martin's snatch at the bridle failed and the horse raced away"; "the infielder's snap and throw was a single motion"

American football, American football game - a game played by two teams of 11 players on a rectangular field 100 yards long; teams try to get possession of the ball and advance it across the opponents goal line in a series of (running or passing) plays

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

We have to keep it 40 and four -- 40 yards and four seconds of hang time and make them fair catch it.

Hill, Salukis prepare to meet 0-1 UMass

Latham completed his 15th Test fifty with a single but was caught behind off Hasan after Paul Reiffel consulted television umpire Ian Gould for a fair catch.

Nicholls holds firm but Pakistan close in on series-levelling win

If a fly ball is held if but for a second or two, unless it plainly rebounds from the hand, it should be considered a catch, and when an umpires sees a ball dropped purposely for a double play, he should decide the ball dropped as a fair catch. (5) It is not clear whether Fox was actually attempting the infield fly play or if the double play was merely opportunistic, but the editorial comment about what constitutes a catch clearly has the infield fly play in mind.

Revisiting the Origin of the Infield Fly Rule

TV replays were used to check Adam Gilchrist had made a fair catch but the rules meant the third umpire could not adjudicate on no-balls in the Ashes Test.

TODAY: August 4

The fair catch minimizes the chances a fumble or injury because it ensures that the returner is fully protected from the opposing team, whose players may not touch the returner or attempt to interfere with the catch any way after the fair catch signal is given.

False is_featured false internal_position 29 id_str 12554850 href

The other eight penalties were mental, discipline penalties including a personal foul on the head coach, three false starts, one offsides, a substitution infraction, unsportsmanlike conduct and fair catch interference.

X's & O's

After all, why should the advantage gained by a well-flighted probing kick be taken away from the attacking side, and the game stopped dead in its tracks, just because of a "fair catch"?

A better use of time in rugby matches

On his first return attempt of the game, Norwood caught Brad Nortman's punt at his own 25-yard line in traffic, and the Carolina Panthers stood around after as if he had called for a fair catch. Norwood didn't, and he sidestepped two Panthers - Colin Jones and Teddy Williams - and turned up the right side of the field, sprung by a nice block from teammate Lerentee McCray on tight end Ed Dickson, Edholm wrote, describing Norwood's play in the second quarter.

Jordan Norwood sets Super Bowl record

If the umpires use an Umpire Review to answer an appeal for a Caught decision, for either a fair catch or a bump ball, the request for a Player Review of that Caught decision may be made by either team within 15

New playing conditions come into effect

You can assume it's a fair catch and the guy muffs the ball.

Pats, Seahawks have special players

It was a blur of pitch, ball and bat, but replays confirmed a fair catch and Smith trudged off.

Pakistan break 20-year Test drought against Aussies Younis, spinners shine to win by 221 runs

However, West Indies captain Dwayne Bravo defended Ramdin against accusations of bad sportsmanship, insisting that the keeper genuinely believed that he had held on for long enough to claim a fair catch.