▪ I. cutch1
(kʌtʃ)
[ad. Malay kachu (Canarese kāchu, kācchu) catechu. The name occurs in Portuguese authors of 16th c. as cacho, and in 17–18th c. Eng. writers as cacha, cotch. See catechu.]
The commercial name of the catechu obtained from Acacia Catechu, used in tanning, etc.
| [1617 Cocks Diary (1883) I. 294 (Y.), 7 hhds. drugs cacha; 5 hampers pochok.] 1759 in Oriental Repert. I. 109 (Y.) Hortal and Cotch, Earth-oil, and Wood-oil. 1805 Hatchett in Phil. Trans. XCV. 288 Twenty grains of the common cutch or catechu. 1865 J. G. Bertram Harvest of Sea (1873) 179 Boilers bubble with the brown catechu, locally called ‘cutch’, used as a preservative for the nets and sails. |
b. attrib., as cutch tree.
| 1888 Times 22 Oct. 13/5 The Acacia catechu, or cutch tree, is found in large forests..The wood is chipped, boiled, and the cutch thus extracted. |
▪ II. cutch2 Gold-beating.
(kʌtʃ)
[app. ad. F. caucher in same sense, f. caucher to press down, orig. to tread:—L. calcāre.]
A pile of vellum (or parchment paper) leaves, between which laminæ of gold-leaf are placed to be beaten.
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 172/1. |
▪ III. cutch
var. of couch n.2 (Triticum repens).