Entry · catalog no. 7017
latch on
/ /lætʃ ɒn/ /LATCH-on
v. · Harlem, New York · 1930s
✓ Verified
1.
To take hold of something; by extension, to grasp an idea, to get wise to what is going on.
“Took him a minute, but he latched on to the plan.”
Origin & Attribution
Harlem jive of the 1930s, listed in Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary (1938) as "grab, take hold, get wise to." The comprehension sense — to latch on to an idea — passed into general American English, where the jive roots are rarely remembered.
1938
Listed in the Hepster's Dictionary: 'grab, take hold, get wise to'
1940s-50s
The 'understand' sense spreads into general speech
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
The Northeast
Harlem, New York · 1930s
Spoken by
Harlem jazz world; later general
$LATCHOThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady12 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
55/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1938
in the culture
Mainstream crossover
1950
search interest spikes
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@bxgriot
The Bronx, NY
@phillyanne
Philadelphia, PA
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Cab Calloway, Hepster's Dictionary: Language of Jive
1938
■
+ Cite a sourceCab Calloway, The New Cab Calloway's Hepster's Dictionary, revised edition
1944
See also