Question

Choose the correct meaning of the following idiom: To catch a tartar

• A. To trap a wanted criminal with great difficulty
• B. To catch a dangerous person
• C. To meet with disaster
• D. To deal with a person who is more than one's match

Hint:

When learning idioms, try to understand their figurative meanings rather than interpreting them literally.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

"To catch a tartar" is a figurative idiom, not a literal instruction about catching someone.
Options about trapping a criminal or catching a dangerous person read the phrase too literally, and "to meet with disaster" is too generic and drops the idea of an opponent entirely.
The idiom's real sense is expecting an easy opponent and instead running into someone tougher, which is exactly "to deal with a person who is more than one's match".
So, the correct answer is To deal with a person who is more than one's match.

Answer 2

Idioms like this one usually have a historical or anecdotal origin, in this case linked to old stories of soldiers expecting to capture an easy prisoner and instead seizing a fierce Tartar warrior who overpowered them. Keeping that origin in mind while checking the options:

1. To trap a wanted criminal with great difficulty: This keeps the "difficulty" idea but drops the "unexpected reversal" part, the origin story is about being outmatched, not just a hard capture.
2. To catch a dangerous person: This keeps "danger" but again misses that the danger was unexpected and turned the tables on the one trying to catch.
3. To meet with disaster: This drops the "opponent" angle from the origin story altogether, disaster can befall someone with no adversary involved at all.
4. To deal with a person who is more than one's match: This is the one option that keeps the full sense of the origin story, going after someone thought weaker and finding them stronger instead.

Tracing the idiom back to its origin confirms which option preserves its full figurative sense.

Therefore, the correct answer is To deal with a person who is more than one's match.