▪ I. hotch, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(hɒtʃ)
[Corresponds to Du. hotsen, hossen, to jog, jolt, MHG. and Ger. dial. hotzen to move up and down; also in form to F. hocher (12th c. hocier in Littré) to shake; but the original relations between these words are obscure.]
1. intr. To move up with a short jerk and sink back by one's own weight; to make a succession of such movements, to jog; to move or leap forward in a sitting position; to fidget, to move uneasily or with impatience.
| ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 3688 Archers of Inglande fulle egerly schottes..Sonne hotchene in holle the heþenne knyghtes. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 68 Quhen our gude nichtbors rydis..Some hotcheand on a hemp stalk, hovand on a heicht. a 1605 Montgomerie Sonn. lxvi, With old bogogers, hotching on a sped. c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Gloss. Wks. (1862) 88 Hotching, to limp, to go by jumps, as toads. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 186 Even Satan glowr'd, and fidg'd fu' fain And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main. 1825–80 Jamieson, Hotch,..2. To move by short heavy leaps as a frog or toad does. 1847–78 Halliwell s.v., The old woman said, ‘I bustled through the crowd, and she hotched after me’. 1893 Stevenson Catriona 144 Here am I, fair hotching to be off. |
2. trans. To cause to move in this way; to shake up with a jerky motion; to jog, hitch.
| 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xv, Are ye sure ye hae room eneugh, sir? I wad fain hotch mysell farther yont. 1847–78 Halliwell s.v., When they shake potatoes in a bag, so that they may lie the closer, they are said to hotch them. 1866 Durham Lead-m. Lang., Hotch, to shake with a sharp jerk a trough with a grated bottom, suspended in water, at the end of a long lever, and containing crushed lead ore. |
3. intr. To swarm.
| a 1779 in E.D.D. 1797 Edin. Mag. Dec. 458 The floor i' now is just a hotchin' thrang. 1825 Blackw. Mag. Mar. 369 When there's sae strong a spirit of life hotchin' ower yearth and sea in this very century. 1893–4 R. O. Heslop Northumb. Words II. 387 The place is fair hotchin wi' rabbits. 1909 Daily Chron. 17 May 4/4 ‘The county,’ he said, in his broad Ayrshire accent, ‘is fair {oqq}hotching{cqq}..with them.’ 1961 B. Fergusson Watery Maze v. 111 They found themselves delayed in Lisbon, a city then hotching with spies. 1965 J. Caird Murder Reflected ix. 108 Tripped over a stool. The place hotches with them. 1967 ‘H. Calvin’ DNA Business xiii. 148, I expect the office will be simply hotching with typists. |
▪ II. hotch, n. Sc.
[f. hotch v.]
A jerk or jolt.
| 1721, 1824 in E.D.D. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems (1956) II. 124 Uncanny hotches Frae clumsy carts or hackney-coaches. 1914 N. Munro New Road ii. 24 She never mentioned it, but every time I did, I saw her give a hotch upon her chair. |