catch some z's
To sleep.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“I need to catch some z's before the exam.”
“I usually catch some z's on the train home from work.”
“You look exhausted, so go catch some z's while the baby is sleeping.”
“After the long flight, all she wanted was to catch some z's.”
“If you are feeling tired during the lunch break, you should try to catch some z's in the staff room.”
“The hikers decided to set up their tents early so they could catch some z's before the sun went down.”
“We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow, so we really need to catch some z's tonight.”
“The weary traveler, having wandered lost through the city until dawn, finally collapsed into a cheap hotel bed to catch some z's.”
From the convention of using the letter Z in speech bubbles to represent the audible respiratory sounds of a sleeper. The repetition of Zs served as a graphic shorthand for snoring in early twentieth-century comic strips, providing a visual substitute for the act of slumber. This orthographic representation of a snore eventually transitioned from the page into the spoken idiom.
- 01
catch a body
to kill, to murder
- 02
catch a break
To experience the minimal amount of good luck or a favorable outcome.
- 03
catch a case
To be infected with a disease; used with of.
- 04
catch a cold
To contract a cold.
- 05
catch a date
Of a prostitute, to secure a client who is willing to pay for services.
- 06
catch a fade
To get knocked out (struck and rendered unconscious).
- 07
catch a falling knife
To buy a financial instrument whose price is falling rapidly.
- 08
catch a packet
To be fired upon.
Last updated August 10, 2026