scratchy, a.
(ˈskrætʃɪ)
Also 8 scrachy.
[f. scratch n.1 + -y.]
† 1. Farriery. Affected with the disease known as ‘the scratches’; see scratch n.1 2. Obs.
| 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4788/4 Lost.., a..Mare.., her Legs very hairy and scrachy. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 294 Being well fed, or want of exercise, will frequently excite swellings, which are by no means connected with a scratchy heel. |
2. Of work executed with the pen or brush: Composed of scratches, as opposed to bold, firm lines.
| 1827 Hood Progress of Art ii, Some scratchy strokes..Suffic'd for my design. 1866 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 332 Such a scratchy, illegible hand. 1892 Nation 29 Dec. 502/2 The illustrations are..occasionally scratchy. |
3. Of hair: Scanty, straggling.
| 1820 L. Hunt Indicator No. 46 (1822) I. 371 His mane is scratchy and lax. |
4. a. Apt to scratch.
| 1866 Cockayne Sax. Leechd. III. 402 This interlineation.. has been written with a scratchy pen. 1874 Symonds Sk. Italy & Greece (1898) I. viii. 145 He swept the frescoes over with a scratchy broom. |
b. Of sound: rough, grating. Of a sound-recording: characterized by scratch (scratch n.1 6 b).
| 1889 Cent. Dict. s.v., A scratchy noise. 1961 Webster s.v., Scratchy tune came from the phonograph. 1961 L. Hughes Ask your Mama 3 In the quarter of the negroes Where the doors are doors of paper Dust of dingy atoms Blows a scratchy sound. 1976 W. Trevor Children of Dynmouth ii. 43 He told Stephen to sit on it, in a voice that wasn't as scratchy as usually it was. 1977 Film & Television Technician Jan. 5/2 He precariously wound up the oldest gramophone this side of the Urals so that we might hear a scratchy 78 recording of some Russian choir singing the Creed. 1978 Oxford Times (City ed.) 17 Feb. 19 The mono recordings are primitive and scratchy. |
c. fig. Ill-tempered, peevish, catty.
| 1925 E. H. Young William xxxii. 277 I'm no heroine. I'm a nasty, scratchy, impatient little beast. 1936 L. C. Douglas White Banners viii. 180 But if she was going to write him any more scratchy letters..it might turn out badly. 1949 N. Marsh Swing, Brother, Swing ix. 214 We're both scratchy. I told her I thought the unfortunate Rivera was ghastly and she thinks I'm shaking my curls at Mr. Alleyn. 1958 Spectator 27 June 835/2 The small, scratchy, pert, unhappy son. 1971 P. Purser Holy Father's Navy i. ii. 11 Irby..was a bit scratchy. She said, ‘Why is it we can never go anywhere on time?’ 1977 ‘J. le Carré’ Honourable Schoolboy i. 31 Nor did the dwarf's own..version meet with much success, which made him very scratchy. |
5. Sporting. Of action: Ill-sustained, uneven, ‘ragged’. Also transf.
| 1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 100 Over a short course, where a fast, scratchy stroke often gets a bad boat home in front. 1894 Field 9 June 829/1 Galston's action was of a scratchy character, and Sempronius did not look at his best. 1908 Daily Chron. 2 Apr. 6/5 The Dark Blues did several starts, some of which were scratchy and some were good. 1933 J. B. Priestley Wonder Hero ii. 36 He had taken her away from her bed-sitting room and scratchy living, and had made her queen it in a fine service flat in Knightsbridge. |
Hence ˈscratchily adv.
| 1927 Daily Express 27 May 13/2 Wethered,..reaching the turn rather scratchily in forty-two, stood one down. 1975 R. L. Duncan Dragons at Gate (1976) i. 27 Chamber music drifting scratchily from an old Victrola. |
______________________________
Add: [4.] d. Demanding relief by or as if by scratching, itchy.
| 1943 A. Ransome Picts & Martyrs xiii. 120, I..saw him uncurl his proboscis and shove it in and start sucking blood up out of the back of my hand... It was scratchy afterwards. 1970 A. Tyler Slipping-Down Life viii. 112 My eyelids feel scratchy. |