Definition of "catchment" [catch•ment]

• A catching or collecting of water, especially rainwater. (noun)
• A structure, such as a basin or reservoir, used for collecting or draining water. (noun)
• The amount of water collected in such structure. (noun)
• A catchment area. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "To give one example, at this point, what we call our catchment area, which is the underlying population of arrestees, in some communities, it's a city; in other communities, it's a county; in some communities, we're only one of the jails that might be in the county."
• "We have a lovely rain catchment pond, which has easily collected 50,000 gallons this rain season in a proof-of-concept test, and mostly overflowed."
• "Also, water catchment from the roof would be a nice design feature. i believe that the key factor is cost."