intercept

verb

1. (transitive)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. (transitive)To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
3. (transitive)To gain possession of (the ball) in a ball game.
4. (transitive)To take or comprehend between.
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. An interception of a radio broadcast or a telephone call.
2. An interception of a missile.
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. A form of market research where consumers are intercepted and interviewed in a retail store or mall.