intercept

verb

1. 1

   To stop, deflect or divert (something in progress or motion).

   The police intercepted the package of stolen goods while it was in transit.

   [T]he emotion grew ſo violent that it almost intercepted my reſpiration.

   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.

   I must admit to being genuinely shocked when I saw those letters in my file. I always suspected that mail was monitored, but it never occurred to me that mail would be intercepted and opened.

2. 2

   To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.

3. 3

   To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game. Of a defensive player: to steal a pass thrown by the opposing team, gaining possession of the ball.

4. 4

   To take or comprehend between.

5. 5

   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

1. 1

   An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.

2. 2

   An interception of a missile.

3. 3

   The coordinate of the point at which a curve intersects an axis.

   the y intercept

   Because the horizontal-axis intercept occurs when y=0 and the vertical-axis intercept occurs when x=0, we can find the intercepts algebraically.

4. 4

   A form of market research where consumers are intercepted and interviewed in a retail store or mall.

Forms

plural

intercepts

past tense

intercepted

past participle

intercepted

present participle

intercepting

third person singular

intercepts