scotch

verb (used with object)

1. to put a definite end to; crush; stamp out; foil: to scotch a rumor; to scotch a plan.
2. to cut, gash, or score.
3. to injure so as to make harmless.
4. to block or prop with a wedge or chock.

noun

5. a cut, gash, or score.
6. a block or wedge put under a wheel, barrel, etc., to prevent slipping.

verb (used with object), noun Masonry.

1. scutch(defs 2, 4).

adjective

1. (used outside of Scotland) of Scottish origin; resembling or regarded as characteristic of Scotland or the Scottish people: Scotch plaid.
2. Sometimes Offensive. of or relating to Scotland or its inhabitants; Scottish.
3. (usually lowercase) Informal. frugal; provident; thrifty.

noun

4. (used with a plural verb) Sometimes Offensive. the inhabitants of Scotland; the Scots.
5. (often lowercase) Scotch whisky.
6. Sometimes Offensive. the English language as spoken in Scotland; Scots.

verb (tr)

1. to put an end to; crushbad weather scotched our plans
2. archaic to injure so as to render harmless
3. obsolete to cut or score

noun

4. archaic a gash; scratch
5. a line marked down, as for hopscotch

verb

1. (tr) to block, prop, or prevent from moving with or as if with a wedge

noun

2. a block or wedge to prevent motion

adjective

1. another word for Scottish

noun

2. the Scots or their language

noun

1. Also called: Scotch whisky whisky distilled esp from fermented malted barley and made in Scotland
2. Northeast English a type of relatively mild beer

adj.“of Scotland,” 1590s, contraction of Scottish. Disdained by the Scottish because of the many insulting and pejorative formations made from it by the English (e.g. Scotch greys “lice;” Scotch attorney, a Jamaica term from 1864 for strangler vines). Scotch-Irish is from 1744 (adj.); 1789 (n.); more properly Scots-Irish (1966), from Scots (mid-14c.), the older adjective, which is from Scottis, the northern variant of Scottish. Scots (adj.) was used in Scottish until 18c., then Scotch became vernacular, but in mid-19c. there was a reaction against it. Scotch Tape was said to be so called because at first it had adhesive only on the edges (to make it easier to remove as a masking tape in car paint jobs), which was interpreted as a sign of cheapness on the part of the manufacturers. v.“stamp out, crush,” 1825, earlier “make harmless for a time” (1798; a sense that derives from an uncertain reading of “Macbeth” III.ii.13), from scocchen “to cut, score, gash, make an incision” (early 15c.), of unknown origin, perhaps [Barnhart] from Anglo-French escocher, Old French cocher “to notch, nick,” from coche “a notch, groove,” perhaps from Latin coccum “berry of the scarlet oak,” which appears notched, from Greek kokkos. Related: Scotched; scotching. n.11778, elliptical for Scotch whisky. See Scotch (adj.). n.2“incision, cut, score, gash,” mid-15c., related to scotch (v.).