▪ I. scotch, n.1
(skɒtʃ)
In 5 skoch, 8 skotch, dial. squotch.
[Cognate with scotch v.1]
1. An incision, cut, score or gash.
| c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 102 Kut him in þe bakke in two or þre places, but noȝt þorgh, And drawe him in þe sket [Douce MS. skoch] next the hede, as thou doest a rounde pike. 1526 Grete Herball cclxxiii. (1529) P iv b, In that countree the people make scotches or clyftes in the barke of this tre. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Cicatricosa vitis, a vine full of scotches and choppes. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. vii. 10 Wee'l beat 'em into Bench-holes, I haue yet Roome for six scotches more. 1625 N. Carpenter Geog. Del. i. ii. (1635) 37 A round bowle..indented here and there with scotches. 1655 Walton Angler xiii. (1661) 194 Then give him [the eel] three or four scotches with a knife. 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1895/4 A pretty big chubbed Man,..a Scotch in his Face. 1787 Grose Prov. Gloss., Skotch, or Squotch, a notch, or cut. 1787 W. H. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. 387 Scotches, scores, or notches. 1832 L. Hunt Boileau's Battle of Bks. 51 All arm them as they can: one gives a scotch With ‘Love's Decree’; another, with the ‘Watch’. |
2. spec. A line scored or marked upon the ground, in the game of hopscotch. Also Comb. † scotch-hoppers, -hob, names for the game.
| 1677 Poor Robin To Rdr., The time when School-boys should play at Scotch-hoppers. 1693 Locke Educ. §76 (1699) 116 Dancing and Scotch-hoppers would be the same thing to them, were the Encouragements and Discouragements equal. Ibid. §129. 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words, Scotch-hob. 1890 Wedgwood in N. & Q. Ser. vii. X. 64 Taking care that the tile shall be driven clear over the scotch, or scored line. |
† 3. Phr. out of all scotch and notch, ? beyond all bounds or calculation. Cf. scotch v.1 1 b. Obs.
| 1589 Marprel., Hay any Work A ij b, The pleasure which you haue done vnto me, is out of all scotche and notche. 1594 Lyly Mother Bombie ii. iii, We gird them and flout them out of all scotch and notch, and they cannot see it. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden 9 Thou wilt be as ready as any catchpoule, out of all scotch & notch to torment him. |
▪ II. scotch, n.2
(skɒtʃ)
Also 7 skatch, 9 skotch.
[Belongs to scotch v.2: of obscure origin; perh. cogn. w. scote v.
If the 17th c. form skatch be correct, the word may be identical with scatch n., stilt.]
1. A block placed under a wheel, a cask, or the like, to prevent moving or slipping.
| 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xlii. §458 Behind there is a skatch to stay the wagon in some steep descent. 1861 J. B. Keene Pract. Gauging 40 They [sc. casks] are to be firmly fixed, by means of scotches placed underneath, in a horizontal position, bung upwards. 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 115 Two shod handspikes, and two scotches. 1877 Field Exerc. Infantry 415 The wheels must be well secured with lashing rope and scotches. 1897 Daily News 11 Feb. 8/5 The scotches failed, and the boiler began to back down the hill. |
b. fig.
| 1601 Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. xlv. (1631) 251 It is time so soon as our breathing hath set a scotch upon Time. 1861 Ruffini Dr. Antonio x, The Baronet, who did not like so many scotches put to his plans. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., So we often speak metaphorically of ‘putting a scotch on a person's wheel’, i.e checking him; and to put a scotch on a project is to put difficulties in its way. |
2. (See quot.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Scotch, a slotted bar which slips upon a rod or pipe, and forms a bearing for a shoulder or collar thereon, so as to support it while a section above is being attached or detached. Used in boring and tubing wells. |
▪ III. scotch n.4
var. *scutch n.4
▪ IV. scotch, v.1
(skɒtʃ)
Forms: 5 scocche, skocche, schoche, 5–6 skoche, 6 scotche, 6–7 skotch, 6– scotch.
[Of obscure origin; identity with scorch v.3 (first in 16th c.) is hardly possible.]
1. a. trans. To make an incision or incisions in; to cut, score, gash. ? Obs.
| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 3727 With his nayles cracched he his face, And scocched [Roxb. skocched] it with knyues, and to-rente. c 1450 Two Cookery-bks. 101 Schoche him [the fish] by þe hede in þe backe,..And skoche him in two or iij. peces in þe bak, but noȝt thorgh. 15.. Scot. Field 218 Chetham Soc. Misc. II, Our Englishmen full egerly attilde them to shott; Skochen the cruell Scottes with their kene arrowes. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 46 b, If ye will haue the iuice, ye must scotche & pryck the rootes in many places. 1576 Turberv. Venerie xliii. 131 When they haue well skotched it [the deer-skin] with their wood-kniues, that the houndes may the more easily teare off the fleshe. 1596 Nashe Saffron Walden Ep. Ded. C 3 b, I..will deliuer him to thee to be scotcht and carbonadoed. 1601 Holland Pliny iv. v. I. 74 Thus many creekes doth scotch and cut Peloponnesus. 1651 T. Barker Art of Angling (1653) 17 Wash the Eele cleane... Scotch it all along both the sides. 1675 H. Woolley Gentlew. Comp. 129 Scotch with your knife the back of the Carp. 1747 H. Glasse Cookery 33 When you have clear'd the Pig of both [skin and hair], scotch him down to the Bones. |
| absol. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 73 How euer ye scotch, saue pole and crotch. |
† b. Phr. to notch and scotch. (? A term used in Real Tennis: cf. scotch n.1 3.) Obs.
| 1607 Shakes. Cor. iv. v. 198 He scotcht him, and notcht him like a Carbinado. 1797 F. Burney Lett. Dec. (1891) IV. 49 They play all day at tennis, and learn with vast skill to notch and scotch and go one. |
2. a. Theobald's generally accepted conjectural reading of Macb. iii. ii. 13, ‘We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it’ (see scorch v.3), has become a stock quotation, in which the verb scotch is taken to mean: To inflict such hurt upon (something regarded as dangerous) that it is rendered harmless for the time.
| 1798 Cooke in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 393, I fear relaxation and too much clemency; but the snake must be killed not scotched. 1820 Byron Mar. Fal. iii. ii. 268 Would that the hour were come! We will not scotch, But kill. 1843 Le Fevre Life Trav. Phys. II. ii. viii. 279 The malaria is scotched, not killed, and the intermittent returns at some future period. 1879 Merivale Early Ch. Hist. ii. 86 It was by Augustine most of all that the Arian heresy was scotched, if not actually killed. 1894 Baring-Gould Deserts S. France II. 115 From the time of St. Louis, the feudal power in France was scotched, though far from killed. |
b. To crush, stamp upon, stamp out (something dangerous).
| 1825 Q. Rev. XXXII. 277 If we, in our own language, were to scotch the insidious forgetfulness, we might, perhaps, be accused of ‘coarse and insulting abuse’; and shall therefore only cite the gentle remonstrance of Lord Byron. 1880 A. H. Huth Buckle I. iii. 189 Attempting to scotch the pestiferous germs of heresy. 1908 Expositor Dec. 527 Fanaticism which constitutes a danger to mankind should be scotched. |
c. To refute conclusively or stamp out (a rumour, report, etc.); to frustrate (a plan or hope); to quash, destroy, bring to nothing. (Perh. influenced by scotch v.2 1 b.)
| 1926 in H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage 518/2 The contradiction of a rumour affecting any particular company..is seldom entirely scotched by directorial statements. Ibid., We hope the proposal for a Government news service for the Colonies is finally scotched by the debate. 1947 H. S. Gladwin Men out of Asia xxvi. 270 The question has been raised as to whether they [sc. helmets] were not copies from late European models, but this idea was scotched by Captain Cook who found them in fashion in Hawaii. 1955 Times 27 July 13/1 He did so with sufficient force..to scotch once and for all any lingering doubts or rumours that the pound is to be devalued by stealth. 1966 Listener 2 June 792/2 The closing words of his book firmly scotch any hope we may have of evading the central question. 1976 Australian 30 June 1/7 The Prime Minister..is to meet the Russian Ambassador..next month to scotch reports of a serious rift in Soviet–Australian relations. |
Hence scotched ppl. a., cut, scarred; also in scotched collops, an etymologizing perversion of Scotch collops; ˈscotching vbl. n.
| 1559 Feckenham in Strype Ann. Ref. (1709) I. App. ix. 26 There was no scotchinge nor cuttinge of the Faces and Legs of the Crucifix and Image of Christ. 1625 Lisle Du Bartas, Noe 98 The Lombard left,..Unto the skotched [balafrez] Hunnes the divers furrowd marge Of Ister. 1708 W. King Art Cookery 21 A Cook perhaps has mighty things profest, Then sent up but two Dishes nicely drest, What signifie Scotcht-Collops to a Feast. |
▪ V. scotch, v.2
(skɒtʃ)
Also 8 skatch.
[f. scotch n.2]
1. trans. To block or wedge (a wheel, log, gate, etc.) so as to keep from moving or slipping. Also with up (see quot. 1898). Also fig.
| 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xiii. §4 Hedges and counterhedges..serve for barracadoes, and will stick as bird⁓lime in the wings of the horse, and scotch the wheeling about of the foot. 1645 T. Hill Olive Branch (1648) 29 If now jealousies and misunderstandings should creep in, and scotch the wheel. 1663 Dryden Wild Gallant i. i. (1669) 2 Then will I first scotch the Wheeles of it, that it may not run. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey) To Skatch a Wheel. 1713 M. Henry Conc. Meekness & Quietn. of Spirit (1822) 141 Abigail prudently scotched the wheels of his passion. 1844 Emerson New Eng. Reformers Wks. (Bohn) I. 259 Stop, dear nature, these incessant advances of thine; let us scotch these ever-rolling wheels. 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 125, 2 has charge of the..skidding, scotches the wheels. 1866 Cornh. Mag. Sept. 323 It was..noticed that near most of the gates that would have had to be opened, a stone was lying, as if it had been used to ‘scotch’ it. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss. s.v., To scotch a ladder is to ‘foot’ it, and thus prevent its slipping. 1895 Ld. Watson in Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 636/2 Hopper..insufficiently scotched the waggon which ran down the incline and killed the deceased. 1898 Ansted Dict. Sea Terms s.v., To be scotched up is to be supported, as a boat may be when propped or ‘scotched up’ against a quay by timber shores or legs. |
b. fig. To render inoperative, cripple the action of; to frustrate (a plan).
| 1876 L. Stephen Eng. Th. 18th C. I. 33 The name of Spinozism was of course dreaded by them [sc. the Deists]; they take care both to avoid the imputation, and to make it undeserved by carefully scotching their logic. 1895 in Funk's Stand. Dict. 1897 ‘O. Rhoscomyl’ White Rose Arno 163, I scotched the project of retreat for this council, at any rate. |
† 2. intr. (Chiefly with negative.) To hesitate, scruple, boggle, or stick at; to hesitate to do something. Also, to haggle with a person for something. Obs. exc. dial.
| 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 74 For when [men] come to giuing vnto holy and necessarie vses, then they will sticke at a pennie, and scotch at a groat, and euery thing is too much. 1627 J. Carter Plain Expos. 47 He will have vs value our humilitie, loyaltie, and pliablenesse to the higher powers..at so high a rate, as to scotch at no hardship, to give them, or their assignes, iust content. Ibid. 81 God hath giuen the greater,..wherefore out of question, hee will not scotch with vs for the lesse. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Scotch v. to spare; to refrain... So when we say ‘I did not scotch to tell him my mind’, we mean ‘I did not at all mince the matter’. 1887 S. Chesh. Gloss., Scotch, to hesitate, stick at. ‘He scotches at nowt’. |
3. intr. Of a horse: ? To boggle, shy.
| 1894 Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life II. 216 Soon after he [sc. a racehorse] started he began to scotch, and was on the point of stopping to kick. |
Hence ˈscotching vbl. n. Also ˈscotcher nonce-wd., an implement for scotching or blocking.
| 1800 M. Edgeworth Parents' Assist. (1856) 460, ‘I call this thing my scotcher,’ said Paul, ‘because I always scotch the wheels with it.’ 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 110 This is called scotching, or chocking. |
▪ VI. scotch v.3
var. *scutch v.3
▪ VII. scotch
variant of scutch n. and v.