| 释义 |
▪ I. scratch, n.1|skrætʃ|
[f. scratch v.]
I. Result of scratching.
1. a. A slight tearing or incision of the skin produced by a sharp instrument. (Sometimes applied slightingly to a trifling flesh-wound.) Cf. scrat n.2
a1586Sidney Arcadia i. (Sommer) 82 Al the Lion could do, was with his paw to teare of the mantle and sleeue of Zelmane, with a little scratch, rather then a wound. 1592Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iii. i. 96 Ben. What art thou hurt? Mer. I, I, a scratch, a scratch, marry 'tis inough, Where is my Page? go Villaine fetch a Surgeon. 1613Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. i, Leon. Are all his wounds well? Tra. All, they were but scratches, but the losse of blood made him faint. 1672Wiseman Wounds i. x. 96 But if the bloud..be recent, it possibly happened from some scratch of your Terebra. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 394 The third had a little scratch in the shoulder. 1828Scott F.M. Perth iii, Surely a few drops of blood from a scratch, and a few silly words from a foolish wench's lips, are not to part father and son. 1851Tennyson E. Morris 63, I would have hid her needle in my heart, To save her little finger from a scratch. 1889Corbett Monk i. 10 The young ensign passed through the four months of..fighting without a scratch.
b. fig.
1592Timme Ten Eng. Lepers vii. H 2 b, Rase it over but with a little scratch, and all the matter of love is gone. 1682Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. (1756) 94 Angred pride makes a noise, like Homerican Mars, at every scratch of offences. 1759H. Walpole Let. to Mann 30 Nov., Our loss is a scratch, one lieutenant and thirty-nine men killed [etc.].
c. slang. no great scratch: of no serious importance, of no great value.
1844Maj. Jones' Courtship 136 (Bartlett), There are a good many Joneses in Georgia, and I know some myself that ain't no great scratches. 1864Hotten's Slang Dict. s.v., ‘No great scratch’, of little worth.
2. a. pl. A disease of horses, in which the pastern appears as if scratched; = cratches, cratch n.2 2.
1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Arestin, the scratches in a horses pasterns, Scabies in equorum suffragine. 1650B. Discolliminium 16 My Mare hath the Scratches on her hinder Heeles. 1754Bartlet Gentl. Farriery xxxvii. (ed. 2) 305 Scratches in the heels have so much affinity with the grease..that [etc.]. 1881Scribner's Monthly XXII. 644 The history of a galled shoulder or of an obstinate case of scratches.
fig.1596Nashe Saffron Walden 26 So hath hee..vncessantly perswaded me to preserue my credit from iadish dying of the scratches.
b. The mange. Cf. cratch n.2 1.
1828Sporting Mag. XXIII. 26 The appearance of mange, or scratch as it is sometimes called, among my hounds.
3. A mark or furrow produced by the grinding contact of two substances; a shallow linear incision.
1662W. Faithorne Art Graving 48 And if you perceive any scratches in your plate, rub them out with your burnisher. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc., Smithing 15 The course File cuts deep and makes deep scratches in the work. 1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 818 The scratch made on the glass at the commencement, need scarcely be more than a point. 1863Dana Man. Geol. 538 There are deep scratches or groovings in the rocky surface of the country across which the stones were carried. 1907Hodges Elem. Photogr. 25 Any adherent grit will cause scratches.
4. a. A rough or irregular mark made by a pencil, paint-brush, etc.; hence, a slight sketch, a hasty scrawl.
1646Evelyn Diary Apr., 400 leaves full of scratches of Indians. 1653Urquhart Rabelais i. xxviii, Drawing scratches on the hearth with a stick burnt at the one end. 1752Mrs. Delany Life & Corr. (1861) III. 124, I send you a little scratch not worthy to be called a sketch. 1785Cowper Let. to Newton Wks. 1836 V. 153 Every scratch of his pen was accounted a treasure. 1811Byron Let. to Dallas Wks. 432 note, A scratch under last, to show where the joke lies. a1871De Morgan Budget Parad. (1872) 466 If any one should have the sense to leave out of his Greek the unmeaning scratches which they call accents. 1908Outlook 14 Nov. 655/2 The scratch of a Minister's pen may be worth millions of dollars to some favoured person or some inside syndicate.
b. Money, esp. paper money. slang (orig. U.S.).
1914Jackson & Hellyer Vocab. Criminal Slang 74 Scratch,..paper currency... ‘He's got a bundle of scratch’. 1916Lit. Digest 19 Aug. 424/2 Money is given a score of names; the most used is ‘kale’, ‘scratch’, or ‘dough’. 1931Writer's Digest Oct. 29 Don't mess with that iron money; get the scratch. 1939New Yorker 1 Apr. 19/2 She..also had plenty of scratch, being the bank president's daughter. 1941J. Smiley Hash House Lingo 47 Scratch, coins. 1955Pohl & Kornbluth Space Merchants xiv. 123 Here's some scratch, and shop when you get a chance. 1957N. Marsh Off with his Head xii. 269, I wouldn't have done it only I wanted the scratch like hell. 1967I. Hamilton Man with Brown Paper Face vii. 102 Alfred Mays..had enough scratch to run two homes. 1972D. Anthony Blood on Harvest Moon xiv. 118 She runs some kind of talent agency. Probably a tax write-off... She doesn't need the scratch. 1978G. McDonald Fletch's Fortune xv. 106 As soon as Fletch got the story from each girl..he found himself..getting up the scratch to bus her home. 1980Private Eye 6 June 7/1 This state-funded legal nonsense—which is..putting even more scratch into the bulging wallets of the lawyers.
5. Sporting. A line or mark drawn as an indication of a boundary or starting-point; † in Cricket, a ‘crease’ (obs.); in Pugilism, the line drawn across the ring, to which boxers are brought for an encounter. Hence in various phrases (often fig.), as to come up to (the) scratch, up to the required standard; to bring to the scratch, to toe the scratch, etc.
1778Cotton in Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1833) 67 Ye strikers..Stand firm to your scratch, let your bat be upright. 1821John Bull 7 Jan. 29/3 He started a few seconds before the time and came up in speed to the scratch at the moment appointed. 1830–57De Quincey Bentley Wks. VII. 131 No prudent champion, however game, would have chosen to offer himself to the scratch for a second round. 1843Dickens Let. 17 June (1974) III. 513 Pray, as a Member of the Committee, come up to the Scratch. 1848A. Brontë Tenant of Wildfell Hall II. xi. 202 Your uncle and aunt have long been wanting us to go there, you know; but somehow, there's such a repulsion between the good lady and me, that I never could bring myself up to the scratch. 1861C. M. Yonge Young Step-Mother xiii. 156 The Vicar..was meditating a fresh one [sc. attempt], if..he could bring his churchwarden up to the scratch. 1881Sportsman's Year-bk. 37 [Pigeon shooting rules.] 21. In Shooting Matches..The shooter is bound in his turn to appear at the scratch within five minutes when called upon. 1894Sir J. D. Astley Fifty Yrs. Life I. 41 Some eight or ten toed the scratch, and I won very easily. 1911G. B. Shaw Getting Married 226 It's about the wedding... We cant get our man up to the scratch. Cecil has locked himself in his room and wont see or speak to any one. 1934‘G. Orwell’ Burmese Days ix. 142 If they won't come up to scratch you can always get hold of the ringleaders and give them a good bambooing on the Q.T. 1953D. Garnett Golden Echo vi. 133 All Edward's friends were mobilised and came loyally up to scratch. 1960C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. viii. 164 Those of us who had pretensions to brain Maurice brought up to scratch by loosing on them the full force of his personality. 1978Taxi 16 Feb. 11/4 (Advt.), Cold weather can cause you a lot of problems if your cab's electrics aren't up to scratch.
b. The starting-point in a handicap of a competitor who receives no odds; sometimes colloq. used ellipt. for such a competitor. Also fig.; esp. in phr. from scratch, from a position of no advantage, knowledge, influence, etc., from nothing.
1867Athlete for 1866, 9 W. Collett, scratch 1. 1876Bicycle Jrnl. 18 Aug. 7/1 Mr. Tom Sabin, of the Coventry Bicycle Club, has won, during last week, three races from scratch. 1886Field 31 July 182/2 In the [lawn tennis] match between Messrs. G. Butler (owes 15) and E. A. Butler (scratch), the odd set again had to be resorted to. 1922Joyce Ulysses 454 A poor foreign immigrant who started scratch as a stowaway and is now trying to turn an honest penny. 1936Economist 2 May 233/1 Nazi Germany, starting her rapid re-armament ‘from scratch’ in 1933, was fortunate enough to have a surplus capacity in all sections of her heavy industries. 1939‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air ii. v. 103 We'd no fishing tackle of any kind, not even a pin or a bit of string. We had to start from scratch. 1953S. Kauffmann Philanderer v. 77 He took one look at her and thought: If I want that, I must begin all over again right from scratch. 1957L. F. R. Williams State of Israel 53 Another branch of communications which has been built up from scratch to a degree of efficiency. 1962Guardian 21 Mar. 2/5 The whole Treasury block could..have been rebuilt from scratch for the money. 1978Peace News 25 Aug. 7/2 The daily routine was a crash programme of tuition provided by civilians, mainly Russian or other Slavic emigrés, in Russian from scratch to A-level standard, which was achieved in 10 months. 1979Fortune 29 Jan. 77 NASA is not exactly starting from scratch out there in space; it is building on promising experiments done on prior space flights.
c. Sporting. A horse or other animal withdrawn from the list of entries for a race or other competition.
1938Mr. Dec. 128/2 Scratch,..a horse withdrawn from a race. 1947Sun (Baltimore) 20 Dec. 12/1 The overnight favorite..was a late scratch. 1960Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 450/2 Scratch,..a horse that has been withdrawn from a race after midnight of the night before the race. 1979Arizona Daily Star 8 Apr. c2/3 We kept hoping there would be a scratch in the fast heat... I must have asked a hundred times if there were any scratches.
6. a. The sound produced by the friction of two more or less rough surfaces.
1787F. Burney Diary 8 Nov., At the Royal doors there is always a particular kind of scratch used, instead of tapping. 1898G. B. Shaw Arms & Man i. 8 There is a scratch, and the flame of a match is seen in the middle of the room.
b. A rough hiss heard from the loudspeaker (or horn) when a record is played and caused by the friction of the stylus in the groove.
1908Talking Machine News I. 9/1 Scratch seems to be filtered out of the reproduction. 1926Punch 2 June p. iii (Advt.), Columbia new process records. The only records without scratch. 1942[see ground noise s.v. ground n. 18]. 1949G. A. Briggs Sound Reproduction xix. 117 Cutting out a slice of scratch also removes a slice of music or whatever is being reproduced. 1961E. N. Bradley Records & Gramophone Equipment ii. 43 Possessors of old 78 r.p.m. records who play these on new lighweight equipment may find a quite distressing amount of scratch and surface noise.
7. Salt-making. (See quot.) Also attrib.
Perhaps so called because scratched from the side of the pan. Possibly, however, it is a different word: cf. scratchings.
1723Brown in Phil. Trans. XXXII. 354 Whilst the Brine is boyling, there precipitates a hard crusty Matter,..Part of it fixes on the Bottom of the Iron Pan so hard, as to be afterwards dug off; and this the Workmen call Scratch. 1753Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., Scratch, in the language of the salt-workers of our country, the name of a calcarious earthy or stony substance, which separates from sea water in boiling it for salt. Scratch pans, in the English salt-works, a name given to certain leaden pans, which [etc.]. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVI. 627/1 At the four corners of the salt-pan, where the flame does not touch its bottom, are placed four small lead pans called scratch pans.
II.
8. a. An act of scratching.
1765Museum Rust. III. 157, I pass a moderate-sized roller over the field, and then give it a slight scratch with a pair of light harrows. 1844O. W. Holmes Verses for After-dinner 28 No rubbing will kindle your Lucifer match, If the fiz does not follow the primitive scratch. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xxxvi, Lifting the back of his short hat off his head to make room for a scratch. 1899Daily News 31 Mar. 4/7 The little finger is going to descend on the nearly bald pate and gently tickle it—the scratch of feigned wonderment or perplexity. 1932H. C. Wyld Universal Dict. Eng. Lang. 1068/3 Dogs enjoy a good scratch.
b. A skirmish, a trivial fight.
1840De Quincey Style Wks. XI. 218 The philosopher should not have had it all his own way; there should have been a ‘scratch’ at least between us.
† III. 9. (See quot.) Obs.
1618Atkinson Gold Mynes Scot. (Bannatyne Club) 1 The iron raake or scratch to cull and devide the great stones.
IV.
10. Ellipt. for scratch periwig (see 12).
Possibly the etymological notion was ‘a periwig that gives opportunity for scratching the head’.
1755Connoisseur No. 77 ⁋1 His long lank greasy hair may be exchanged in Middle-Row for a smart bag or a jemmy scratch. 1764Oxf. Sausage 26 Quips, and Cranks, and wanton Wiles, That love to live within the one-curled Scratch. 1806T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. II. 119 A stout short man, with a flaxen scratch. 1830O. W. Holmes Treadmill Song 30 Don't pull his hair, Because he wears a scratch. 1904B. von Hutten Pam 285 Either his hair is beginning to grow, or he is wearing a craftily made scratch.
11. In Billiards and related games:
a. a lucky stroke, a fluke ? obs.;
b. a shot that incurs a penalty. Cf. scratch v. 12.
a.1850M. Phelan Billards without Master 12 It is amusing to observe the effect produced on some players by what is technically called a ‘scratch’, or fortuitous stroke. 1859G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 122/1 When a player wins a stroke or count by accident, without deserving it, he is said to have made a scratch. 1869‘Mark Twain’ Innocents Abroad xii. 116 We had played billiards..on an ancient table that made the balls..perform feats in the way of..almost impossible ‘scratches’. 1907N. Amer. Rev. Nov. 333, I saw nothing there in the way of science and art that was more wonderful than shots [in Billiards] which I had seen Texas Tom make..all calculated shots, and not a fluke or a scratch among them.
b.1913J. T. Stoddard Science of Billiards vii. 153 One ball is forfeited for a failure to hit any ball, or for pocketing the cue ball (‘scratch’). 1974Rules of Game 85/3 Scratches are also incurred during safety play on a ball frozen to a cushion, and when a player's cue ball jumps off the table. 1975Way to Play 195/3 At his third scratch in succession, a player loses one point for the third scratch, plus 15 points for the three successive scratches.
V.
12. attrib. and Comb. a. attributive uses of sense 5 b, as scratch boat, scratch-car, scratch-line, scratch machine, scratch-man, scratch-player, scratch-race, scratch runner.
1896Rudder July 220/2 A table of time allowances has been figured out..using the 130-foot boat as ‘*scratch boat’ (to use a foot-racing term). 1950Sun (Baltimore) 18 Mar. 12/1 The Ticonderoga..was named the scratch boat. This means she is favored to finish first in the long race.
1908Westm. Gaz. 21 Apr. 4/2 Two thousand two hundred and thirty-one yards separated the limit car from the *scratch car.
1897Encycl. Sport I. 62/1 (Athletics) *Scratch line, the mark from which the length of any race is measured.
1955Times 22 Aug. 4/5 The race..resolved itself in the closing stages into an exciting tussle between Mr. Clifford, in the *scratch machine, and Mr. Peter Vanneck, in the longest handicap aircraft.
1877Bicycle Jrnl. 7 Sept. 6/1 The ultimate result was a brilliant and well earned victory by the two *scratch men.
1888Athenæum 16 June 760/3 The tone of brutality towards bad players which *scratch players always adopt. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 473/1 (Golf) Scratch player, a good player, who receives neither handicap nor penalty.
1864Hotten's Slang Dict., *Scratch-race (on the Turf), a race where any horse, aged, winner, or loser, can run with any weights. 1888P. Furnivall Phys. Training 6 Next comes the knotty point as to whether the rider intends training for handicaps or scratch races.
1976Star (Sheffield) 30 Nov., Bert Oliver (Kelty), British professional 110 metres champion, is the *scratch runner in the Skol Sprint 110 metres handicap on January 1 and January 3.
b. Special combinations (some of which may perh. be referred to the verb): scratch-block, a scribbling block (cf. sense 4); scratch-card, an instrument for polishing metals formed by fastening long lengths of steel wire upon a pad of leather or cloth; scratch-carding, the use of the scratch-card; scratch-cat, humorous epithet for a spiteful person; scratch-coat (? U.S.), a rough coating of plaster scratched before it is quite dry in order that the following coat may adhere properly; hence scratch-coated a., treated with such a coating of plaster; scratch-coating vbl. n.; scratch-comma, a diagonal stroke used by some early printers in place of the comma; scratch-cradle, a name for cats-cradle; scratch dial, a set of marks found on the walls of old churches, usually considered to be an ancient form of sundial; scratch-figure Typogr. = scratched figure; scratch filter Electr., a filter designed to reduce the audibility of scratches and hiss in sound reproduction; scratch-finish (see quot.); scratch-grass, a dial. name for Galium Aparine, Cynosurus cristatus, and, in U.S., Polygonum sagittatum; scratch hardness, the hardness of a metal or mineral as estimated by measuring the width of a scratch made on the material by a diamond point under a specified load; scratch hit Baseball (see quot. 1976); † scratch-hoeing (see quot.); scratch hole, a hole or trench scratched out of the ground; scratch-knot, a simple form of scratch-brush consisting of a single bunch of wire; scratch-pan (see sense 7); scratch paper N. Amer., scribbling paper; scratch-periwig = scratch-wig; scratch-plough v. trans., to plough very shallowly; scratch-rattle = scratch-back 2; scratch sheet U.S. Sporting, a printed list of the entries in the day's races and their odds; also transf.; scratch stock (see quot. 1966); scratch-weed, Galium Aparine; scratch-wig, a small, short wig; scratch-work, (a) (see quot. 1710); (b) scratched lines on an engraving plate. Also scratch-brush.
1897Flandrau Harvard Episodes 192 His note-books and *scratch block were lying open. 1839*Scratch card [see scratch-brush].
1839F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. 3 The operation of *scratch-carding is..to commence.
1880‘Ouida’ Moths I. 39 She was the most obstinate, humdrum, nasty old *scratch-cat in the County.
1891Century Dict., *Scratch-coat. 1953Van den Branden & Knowles Plastering Skill & Practice i. 5 Of the three coats, the first coat, or scratch coat, is a thin coat... The purpose of the scratch coat..is to..provide a good base for the plaster coats that will follow.
1823J. F. Cooper Pioneers xi, The brown sides of the *scratch-coated walls.
1911Encycl. Brit. XXI. 785/2 For the first coat a layer of well-haired coarse stuff..is put on with the laying trowel. This is termed ‘pricking up’ in London, and in America ‘*scratch coating’.
1888Jacobi Printers' Voc., *Scratch comma, a sign thus / used in old documents and reprints. It is now used as a shilling mark. 1892T. R. Lounsbury Stud. Chaucer I. 342 The mark that goes under the name of a scratch-comma.
1822Nares Gloss. s.v. Cratch, A childish game, corruptly called *scratch-cradle.
1914Proc. Somerset Archæol. Soc. LIX. ii. 26 The name *Scratch Dial has been given to this ancient form of sundial. 1938Times Lit. Suppl. 15 Jan. 39/1 The woodwork follows—roofs, benches, pulpits; and then scratch-dials and aumbries, mural paintings and windows bring up the rear. 1960J. Betjeman Summoned by Bells v. 49 Was that the reason why the pale grey slides Of tympana, scratch dials and Norfolk screens So pleased me at his lectures? 1967C. A. Vearncombe Hist. of Church of St. Lawrence the Martyr (Lydeard St. Lawrence, Somerset) 19 This doorway has a scratch dial on the east, 3 ft. 9 in. above the plinth.
1888Jacobi Printers' Voc., *Scratch figures.
1929K. Henney Princ. Radio xvi. 289 Similar filters are used in phonograph reproduction to eliminate the needle noise. They are called *scratch filters and may tune somewhere between 3000 and 5000 cycles. 1935Nilson & Hornung Pract. Radio Commun. viii. 349 It will be necessary to attenuate the high frequencies... This may be accomplished by introducing a series-resonant circuit similar to that used for scratch filters. 1977Rolling Stone 5 May 80/2 Watch for this spec when you consider the usefulness of rumble and scratch filters on your next amp or receiver.
1891Century Dict., *Scratch-finish, a finish for decorative objects of metal-work, in which a surface otherwise smooth is diversified by small curved scratches forming irregular scrolls over the whole field.
1846–50A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 475 Polygonum sagittatum. *Scratchgrass. 1886Britten & Holland Plant-n., Scratch Grass.
1928Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXVII. 893 Annealing these cold-rolled single crystals at 250°C..gave no measurable rise of *scratch hardness. 1962R. Webster Gems II. 488 For the gemmologist, scratch hardness, based on the standard minerals in Mohs's list, is the only practical basis for experiment. 1972Jrnl. Physics D.V. 1293 Scratch hardness measurements reflect a greater degree of anisotropy in the properties of crystals than the corresponding indentation techniques.
1917C. Mathewson Second Base Sloan 166 Four men faced Chase in the third, the first getting a *scratch hit. 1935Encycl. Sports 63/1 Scratch-hit, a weak hit into the infield. 1943Amer. Speech XVIII. 103 A ‘single’ in the third inning becomes a ‘scratch hit’ in the fourth. 1976Webster's Sport Dict. 374/1 Scratch hit, a batted ball that enables a batter to reach base safely but that is neither an error nor a clean base hit.
1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. vii. 56 The Shallow Horse-Hoeing..is but an Imitation of the Hand-Hoe,..and may be properly called *Scratch-Hoeing.
1923Kipling Irish Guards in Gt. War I. 6 The German trenches, which were rather in the nature of *scratch-holes. 1969G. Coppard With Machine Gun to Cambrai xxi. 87 We lived a mean and improverished sort of existence in lousy scratch holes.
1905Hasluck Electro-plating, Fig. 44 *Scratch-knot.
1899B. Tarkington Gentl. Indiana xiii. 223 Sheets of blank *scratch-paper lay before them, and they relaxed not their knit brows. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) vii. 214 He wanted to work.., and he tried to the extent of getting out some scratch-paper and pencils. 1971Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 12 Sept. 9/5 When I take down a recipe from someone it is usually on a piece of scratch paper. 1979Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 27 May 6c/4 (Advt.), Newsprint roll end paper 20c. a pound.., or else we will cut scratch paper, any length & width desired for 35c a pound.
1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 31 May, Our..footman..lost his *scratch periwig.
1926D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent x. 170 The land was being *scratch-ploughed by a pair of oxen and a lump of pointed wood.
1870Bartley 1 Square Mile E. London 50 The abolition of Greenwich and other fairs having much damaged the sale of the *scratch-rattle toy, which was his speciality.
1939Sun (Baltimore) 30 Nov. 24/6, I noticed that one of the girls was looking at a *scratch sheet. 1956T. Betts Across Board 170 William Armstrong..published the first scratch sheet that ever appeared on the newsstands of New York. The year was 1917. 1964L. Hairston in J. H. Clarke Harlem 288, I..took the resumé scratch-sheet..background..workin' experience.. and such particulars. 1973N.Y. Law Jrnl. 8 May 4/4 The person who reads the New York Times or Daily News or even the scratch sheets.
1934P. A. Wells Design in Woodwork iii. 28 Lines or bandings round a panel,..can be pleasant..if not overdone. These are grooved in with a *scratch stock, a simple tool made in the workshop. 1966A. W. Lewis Gloss. Woodworking Terms 85 Scratch stock, tool for making small beads, mouldings, or grooves of inlays by scraping along the grain of the wood. 1976F. E. Sherlock Enjoying Home Carpentry & Woodwork vii. 76 The scratch stock is very useful for the fine woodworker who wishes to inlay veneer lines.
1855Miss Pratt Flower, Pl. III. 154 (Goose-grass or Cleavers)... Leaves, stems, and globular fruits are all bristly, and the latter often cling to the clothing,..thus it is called..*Scratchweed. 1868Paxton's Bot. Dict., Scratch-weed.
1775F. Burney Early Diary 26 Mar., [Garrick] was himself in a most odious *scratch wig. 1889Gretton Memory's Harkback 7 A good-humoured, easy-going veteran in a scratch wig.
1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, *Scratch-work, in Italian, Sgrafitti, was a way of Painting in Fresco, by preparing of a black Ground, on which was placed a white Plaster; and this White being taken off with an Iron Bodkin, the Black appears thro the Holes, and serves for Shadows. 1910W. de la Mare Three Mulla-Mulgars i. 6 She is shown veiled on the rude pots of Assasimmon and in Mulgar scratch-work. 1977Times Lit. Suppl. 14 Jan. 40/2 Reworked by Blake with scratchwork and blank ink... In this intermediate proof Blake has made these alterations through scratchwork and pen lines, in preparation for reworking the plate.
Sense 5 c in Dict. becomes 5 d. Add: [I.] [5.] c. Golf. A handicap of zero; also, the number of strokes in which a player with a handicap of scratch might be expected to complete a course (cf. scratch player, sense 12 a below).
1897Country Life 23 Jan. 82/2 Mr Glover, playing from scratch, was round in 86. 1905H. Vardon Compl. Golfer xxii. 251 A player whose handicap was several strokes removed from scratch. 1941R. R. Marett Jerseyman at Oxford ix. 138, I was never really worth more than bare ‘scratch’, and clean outside the ‘tiger’ class. 1955R. Browning Hist. Golf 126 Some outstanding player was rated at scratch, and others handicapped from him. 1982S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 265 Each hole was assigned a score, ground score, or scratch, all meaning the number of strokes a moderately good player would be expected to take and which each player tried to equal or better. 1988Today's Golfer July 144/3 By limiting overseas entrants to those with handicaps of scratch or better?
[6.] c. A technique, freq. used in rap music, in which a record is briefly interrupted during play and manually rotated backwards and forwards to produce a rhythmic scratching effect; also, the style of music characterized by this.
1982Melody Maker 4 Dec. 12/3 The New York Scratch 'n' Rap Revue. 1987New Musical Express 14 Feb. 27/4 The 12{pp} dance record is an inevitable liaison with the hi-technology of synthesisers and the rough treatment of rap and scratch.
d. ellipt. for scratch video (sense 12 b below).
1985Honey June 18/2 Scratch is a playful reaction to the endless offerings and noise of ‘the media’. It interrupts the normal passive flow of TV, bends it a bit. 1985M. Wilcox et al. Subverting Television (pamphlet) 3/1 Just playing with the TV remote-control console, quickly switching stations at random, is a basic scratch. 1985Listener 12 Dec. 20/2 Scratch is completely on the outskirts. 1986Photographer May 26/1 A simple scratch can be built up by recording the chosen music/sound onto the audio channel of the video recorder then switch[ing] between channels as the vision is being recorded.
[V.] [12.] [a.] For ‘attributive uses of sense 5 b’ read ‘attributive uses, as (sense 5 b)’, and add: (senses 6 c, d) scratch band, scratch-music, scratch-record, scratch-tape, scratch technique, etc.
1984N.Y. Times 15 July vi. 45/1 Brahms wrote just what he wanted. He didn't have to think, ‘Will a *scratch band in Duluth be able to play this?’ 1987Blues & Soul 3–16 Feb. 9/1 Faze One have fixed it for a 14 year old London rap fan who wrote to the popular show Jim'll Fix It asking to appear with a rap and scratch band. 1983N.Y. Times 25 Dec. i. 47/1 On Tuesday, Mr. Hancock and a band that included the ‘*scratch’ disk jockey Grand Mixer D. Street appeared at the Ritz. 1983Women's Wear Daily 17 June 4/2 At the clubs for younger people, like the 321.., where KROQ DJs play frenetic pop and *scratch music. 1982N.Y. Rocker Jan. 27/2 He created terms for the various sound effects he could achieve: violin phase, punch phase, fake phase, *scratch phase. 1988Listener 31 Mar. 38/1 Peace on Earth had all the hallmarks of a technical exercise..reminiscent of a disc jockey's ‘*scratch’ recordings in the way it manipulated actuality to the detriment of ‘meaning’. 1984Washington Post 27 Apr. (Weekend section) 37/3 Brad Shapiro..produces her outrageous records and stage show, backed by a fine funk outfit, flavored with horns and the latest *scratch and synth sounds. 1988Art Feb. 31/1 Malcolm invited me to programme some *scratch tapes at the NFT. Ibid. 32/2 In the Name of the Gun used *scratch staccato techniques.
[b.] scratch-mix a., of or pertaining to a style of music in which several records are intercut with each other, using the scratch technique, to create a ‘collage’ of rhythmic sound.
1987New Musical Express 14 Feb. 27/4 Pete Shelley's move from The Buzzcocks to a 12{pp} gay classic ‘Homo-Sapiens’ and John Lydon's rearranged public image, appearing with *scratch-mix pioneer Africa Bambaattaa, the self-proclamied Zulu warrior of the hip hop scene, compounded the drift. 1987Daily Tel. 6 Aug. 10/7 He mentioned graffiti artists, breakdancers, body poppers, rappers and scratch mix DJs.
so scratch-mix v.; scratch-mixing vbl. n.
1985Los Angeles Times 16 July vi. 6/1 All the groups performed without bands, as deejays provided the backing by *scratch-mixing records on turntables. 1987New Musical Express 14 Feb. 26/1, I say, I say, I say, did you hear the one about the dermatologist, he thought *scratch-mixing was a form of eczema. 1987Daily Tel. 6 Aug. 10/7 Scratch mixing is messing about with other people's music on records.
scratch video, a technique or genre of video-making, in which a number of short, sharp images are cut and mixed into a single film and fitted to a synchronized, usu. rap music, sound-track; such a video.
1985Listener 12 Dec. 20/2 *Scratch video, an innovative method of pilfering pictures to create often controversial video collages. 1987Ibid. 12 Nov. 27/1 Scratch video is one of the more invigorating genres to emerge from the video revolution.
Add:[V.] [12.] [b.] scratch card, (b) a card used in a competition (freq. issued free as a consumer incentive), having a section coated in a waxy substance which may be scratched away to reveal whether a prize has been won.
1982U.S. News & World Rep. 6 Dec. 12/3 In Alabama and Kentucky, Shell dealers offered instant giveaway games involving *scratch cards. 1993Independent 12 May 17/7 He is proposing a form of telebingo involving scratch cards with winning numbers shown on screen during selected ad breaks.
▸ scratch lottery n. chiefly Austral. a lottery using scratch cards; freq. in scratch lottery ticket.
1982N.Y. Times 3 Sept. b6/3 Now there is a new game in town, a week-old legal ‘*scratch lottery’ in which players erase masked ticket boxes to search for payoffs of up to $10,000. 1984Australian 6 Nov. 1/5 There are the State lotteries, instant or ‘scratch’ lotteries, football pools, art unions—you name it. 1988Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 28 Oct. 18/6 He..won $25,000 with a scratch lottery ticket and then the same night won another $700 in a poker machine in Sydney. 2002Sunday Tel. (Sydney) (Nexis) 11 Aug. He was last seen at 7am on Sunday morning buying a newspaper and three scratch lottery tickets at the newsagency.
▸ scratch plate n. a panel fixed to a surface to protect it from scratches; spec. = pickguard n. at pick n.1 Compounds 2.
1961BMG Dec. (back cover) (advt.) Martin-type *Scratch plate for flat-top guitar. 1987Making Music Feb. 4/5 This is the more expensive of the two, with..sharkfin fingerboard inlays, no scratchplate, and Headcrasher tremolo. 1999Sunday Mag. (Perth, Austral.) (Nexis) 3 Jan. Nasco also made the scratch plates beneath the door handles and Coolaride made the windscreen visor and the removable rattan seat cushions. 2003Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 9 Aug. 5 A good Victorian novelty vesta in the form of a violin case, with engraved simulated hinge and a hinged scratch plate at one end is a Birmingham example, made in 1891.
▪ II. scratch, n.2 colloq. (now chiefly dial.).|skrætʃ|
[Alteration of scrat n.1, after scratch v.]
A name for the devil, usually Old Scratch.
1740Christmas Entertainments iv. (1883) 38 Old Scratch or Nicholas the Antient. 1756T. Amory Buncle (1825) I. 303 Scratch was the name I had for the evil one. 1762[see old a. 9]. 1858Trollope Three Clerks xx, He'd have pitched me to Old Scratch..if [etc.]. 1873W. Carleton Farm Ball. 43 Do you mind my melon-patch—How you gobbled the whole batch,..just to raise the scratch?
▪ III. scratch, a.|skrætʃ|
[Orig. the n. used attrib.]
1. Hastily sketched, roughly drawn.
1853R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xx. 98 A scratch map he had made on a bit of paper.
2. a. Gathered together promiscuously, hastily assembled. scratch vote, scratch division, scratch majority: one which, owing to accident or stratagem, does not represent the actual state of opinion in a constituency or deliberative body (cf. snap, snatch). Of a game or match: impromptu, played by scratch teams. Freq. also of a meal.
1851J. Pycroft Cricket Field x. 189 That is the time that some..batsman, whose eminence is little seen amidst the loose hitting of a scratch match, comes..to the wicket and makes a stand. 1851London at Table i. 23 The butler..giving directions to what the four-in-hand club used to call ‘a scratch team’ of servants. 1859Jephson Brittany ix. 147 Our pack was what is called a ‘scratch pack’. Every one contributed a dog or two. 1864Times 17 Mar. (Hoppe), Compared with the Oxford men, those sent up by Cambridge on this occasion were little better than a scratch crew. 1872Lever Ld. Kilgobbin lxiii, The company was what he irreverently called.. a scratch team. 1874E. J. M. Collins Frances III. x. 234 Frances and Cecilia, coming down, found a hasty luncheon, and everybody busy at it... When this scratch luncheon was over, everybody went out. 1883Sherer At Home & in India 119 A scratch troop of domestics..secured all the glass doors. 1891Newcastle Daily Jrnl. 9 Oct. 4/6 All he looks forward to is a scratch majority, obtained..by keeping the whole question in the dark. 1900Edin. Rev. Jan. 266 Scratch brigades..hastily constituted with scratch staffs. 1903[see cart v. 1 d]. 1923J. Manchon Le Slang 258 A scratch breakfast, un déjeuner improvisé. 1942R.A.F. Jrnl. 18 Apr. 10, I then commanded a scratch squadron of rather ropey machines. 1944Return to Attack (Army Board, N.Z.) 15/2 Some of the men were keeping warm..by playing scratch football. 1952[see organize v. 2 d]. 1953S. Kauffmann Philanderer vi. 103 They sat down to a scratch meal at about nine. 1973‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed xviii. 146 Facilities for ‘scratch’ games of football. 1981J. R. L. Anderson Death in High Latitude v. 85 If you don't mind a scratch meal I'd be delighted if you could stay to supper.
b. absol. A scratch crew.
1896Daily News 26 Mar. 7/2 The eights paddled up steadily against the ebb, the scratch stopping short at Barnes with the Dark Blues going on. 1908Daily Chron. 2 Apr. 6/5 It is not so easy to race away from a fresh scratch towards the end of a twelve minutes row.
▪ IV. scratch, v.|skrætʃ|
Forms: 5 scracch, scartch, 6 scratche, skratch(e, scarche, 6–7 scrach, 5– scratch.
[App. produced by a confusion of the synonymous scrat, cratch vbs.
First in Caxton. The form scartch, scarche, which occurs once in Caxton and once in Du Wes, may possibly be a mere misprint, although metathesis of ra is not uncommon.]
1. a. trans. To wound superficially by dragging the claws or finger-nails over the skin. Also, in wider sense: To wound superficially with anything pointed and hard dragged over the skin or in contact with its moving surface, so as to produce a slight linear tearing or abrasion. (Cf. sense 3 f.)
1474Caxton Chesse ii. i. (1883) 20 He scracchid hym in the visage. c1489― Sonnes of Aymon xxii. 491 For she scartched her face and pulled her heres from her hede for grete sorow. 1530Palsgr. 720/1 Se howe she hath scratched me by the face. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. ibid. 943 To scarche, esgratigner. Ibid. 945 To scratche, esgratigner. 1541R. Copland Galyen's Terap. 2 D ij b, He hath scratched hymself in any party, as on the arme, and sodaynly is rysen a blyster or pustule. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. i. ii, How way-ward is this foolish loue; That (like a testie Babe) will scratch the Nurse, And presently, all humbled kisse the Rod? 1638Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 238 Who to expresse their zeale the better, burne and scratch their armes and breasts, cutting their flesh. 1766Gray Impromptus 6 Bishop of Chester,..If you scratch him will fester. 1870Bryant Iliad I. v. 155 A golden buckle scratched her tender hand. 1872Calverley Fly Leaves (1884) 57 But all too soon my kitten Became a full-sized cat, by which I've more than once been scratch'd and bitten. 1968B. Evans Dict. Quotations 602/1 Scratch a Russian, and you will wound a Tartar. 1977‘D. Cory’ Bennett ii. 64 Scratch a Spaniard, Hunter thought, and he oozes an offended formality instead of blood.
b. With adv.: To tear out (e.g. the eyes) or to drag off (a portion of the skin, a pimple, etc.) with the claws or nails.
1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 209, I vow, I should haue scratch'd out your vnseeing eyes. 1609B. Jonson Masque of Queens Wks. 1616 I. 952, I scratch'd out the eyes of the Owle before. 1674Brevint Saul at Endor 120 Thus when she killed one once and scratcht out the eie of another.
c. absol. or intr. To use the claws or nails as weapons of offence. Also occas. of inanimate things, to produce a scratch or superficial abrasion.
1589Pappe w. Hatchet Lyly's Wks. 1902 III. 406 If a field may be pitcht we are readie: if they scratch wee will bring cattes. a1629T. Goffe Courag. Turk iii. iii. (1632) E 3, Enter some Truls both sides, they fight and scratch. 1839Hood Rural Felicity 28 But, mercy on us, how nettles will sting, and how the long brambles do scratch. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 666 It was better to die biting and scratching to the last than to be worried without resistance or revenge. 1885Sat. Rev. 3 Jan., Children, especially when they grow to years of discretion, should not scratch.
†d. fig. To skirmish or fight without doing serious injury. Obs.
1596Nashe Saffron Walden O 4, Euerie circumstance I cannot stand to reckon vp, as how wee came to take knowledge of one anothers being there, or what a stomacke I had to haue scratcht with him. 1625in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 193 What is it for his Allies to scratch with the King of Spain, to take a Town to day, and lose it tomorrow.
2. a. trans. To rub or scrape lightly (a part of the body) with the finger-nails or claws (e.g. to relieve itching). So to scratch one's head, as a gesture indicating perplexity; also fig.
1530Palsgr. 707/2 Come, scratche my backe, I pray the. 1590Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 7 Scratch my head, Peaseblossome. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 83 In the morning when they turne them [their Hogges] forth, they scratch them with their fingers, as Barbers doe mens heads. 1645Evelyn Diary 29 Sept., An antiq of a dog in stone scratching his eare. 1712Steele Spect. No. 498 ⁋3 The fellow thereupon surrendered his whip, scratch'd his head, and crept into the coach. 1822Byron Juan vi. 100 He scratch'd his ear, the infallible resource To which embarrass'd people have recourse. 1961J. Baker Cottage by Springs xvii. 100 The supervisors, who occasionally arrived in shining saloon cars, scratched their heads over the problem. 1963Observer 24 Nov. 21/4 We wait for the report, read it, and then scratch our heads. 1969Listener 13 Nov. 667/1 We thought we'd take this year off and scratch our head and see whether we can do something better. 1973Times 26 July 33/1 The advent of the school holidays means that millions of children will soon be embarking on long car journeys to the seaside or the Continent and just as certainly many parents will be scratching their heads over the car sickness.
b. intr. for refl.
1590Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 28 If my haire do but tickle me, I must scratch. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 92 So stupid, that notwithstanding Chints, Fleas, and Muskeeto's, torment them every Minute [they] dare not presume to scratch where it itches. 1810Spirit Publ. Jrnls. XIII. 71 My dogs itch and scratch with the mange.
c. you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours and varr. Cf. claw v. 5 b.
1704E. Ward All Men Mad 18 Scratch me, says one, and I'll scratch thee. 1858‘A. Ward’ Let. 27 Jan. in Maine: Guide ‘Down East’ (1937) iii. 363 You scratch my back and i will scratch your back. 1885Pall Mall Gaz. 12 Jan. 1/2 The homely adage, ‘Scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.’ 1928Manch. Guardian Weekly 10 Aug. 104/1 He goes on to spoil the effect by accusing Liberals of hypocrisy and being false to the principle of justice embodied in the phrase ‘Scratch me and I'll scratch you’. 1937‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier ii. 33 In order that..the Nancy poets may scratch one another's backs, coal has got to be forthcoming. 1954M. Ewer Heart Untouched viii. 132 It's the advertisers getting extra publicity. It's everybody scratching everybody else's back. 1961J. Heller Catch-22 (1962) iv. 33 A little grease is what makes this world go round. One hand washes the other. Know what I mean? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. 1978P. Hill Enthusiast v. 61 Local farmer, got 'is own slaughter 'ouse. 'Ee scratches my back, I scratch 'is, know what I mean?
3. a. trans. To make slight linear abrasions on (a surface of any kind). Also fig. Esp. in phr. to scratch the surface (of): to make only slight progress in understanding, taking effective action (on), etc.; not to penetrate very far (into). See also sense 3 f.
1669Evelyn Diary 13 July, Observing that..some idle persons began to scratch and iniure them [viz. marbles]. 1794Sullivan View Nat. I. ix. 73 Marble is soft, and can be scratched with a knife. 1832G. R. Porter Porcelain & Glass xvi. 324 These specimens were sufficiently hard to scratch rock-crystal. 1863Dana Man. Geol. 676 The stones which have produced the furrowing are sometimes scratched themselves. 1915New Republic 13 Feb. 41/1 With all his earnest intention Amherst merely scratches the surface of the immense field of American social endeavor. 1932Wodehouse Louder & Funnier 269 But this has merely scratched the surface. 1936L. Hellman Days to Come iii. 90 You haven't seen anything. They didn't scratch the surface here. 1969Listener 13 Nov. 654/3 When it [sc. contraception] is attempted on a mass scale, as in India, it barely scratches the surface of the problem. 1971D. Potter Brit. Eliz. Stamps xiii. 147 This simplified account can only scratch the surface of a story which is as intriguing and rewarding as the collecting of stamps themselves. 1977Time 9 May 48/2 The industry..has been on a hot sales streak since 1973, when energy consciousness-raising really began. And the market has barely been scratched.
absol.1878Huxley Physiogr. 134 The coarse sediment scratching along the bottom, helps to tear it up.
b. hyperbolically. To furrow (the soil) very lightly for the purpose of cultivation.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 797 The lab'ring Swain Scratch'd with a Rake, a Furrow for his Grain. 1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. vii. 62 Sarrition scratched and broke so small a part of the Earth's Surface. 1860Chamb. Encycl. I. 82/1 The ground, in such cases, requires no further culture than treading in the seed by animals or slightly scratching the surface with bushes. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 422 Its cultivators—if those who just scratch the surface of the earth may be so called.
c. To produce (marks) or portray (an object) by light incisions on a surface.
1644Symonds Diary (Camden) 71 Another huge large stone, three pictures of men in armes scratcht upon the stone. 1741Middleton Cicero II. viii. 235, I had scratched, as it were, out of the block, some faint resemblance of an image. 1872Tennyson Gareth & Lynette 522 When both were children, and in lonely haunts Would scratch a ragged oval on the sand, And each at either dash from either end.
†d. intr. In the election of the Lord Mayor: To put a mark against the name of the candidate voted for. Obs.
1773Chron. in Ann. Reg. 142/1 The number of aldermen who scratched for each being equal, it was decided..by the casting voice of the present Lord-Mayor.
e. trans. To polish = scratch-brush v.
1856G. Gore in Orr's Circ. Sci., Pract. Chem. 76 After being again washed in water, they are ‘scratched’ at the brush. 1877G. E. Gee Silversmith's Handbk. x. 161 After either of the processes of whitening or plating, the work has to be scratched, unless required to be left a dead white.
f. scratch a ― and find a ― and varr.: suggesting the true or fundamental character of any particular group, nation, etc.
In some cases scratch is interpreted as meaning ‘to wound superficially’: see quots. under sense 1 a.
1823J. Gallatin Diary 2 Jan. (1914) 229 Very true the saving is, ‘Scratch the Russian and find the Tartar.’ c1863J. R. Green Let. in N. & Q. (1965) Sept. 348 They say, if you scratch a Russian you always find the Tartar beneath. 1888Mrs. Oliphant Second Son I. xiv. 242 I don't put any faith in Russians... ‘Scratch a Russian and you'll come to the Tartar.’ 1892I. Zangwill Children of Ghetto III. ii. vi. 81 Scratch the Christian and you find the pagan—spoiled. 1924G. B. Shaw St. Joan iv. 52 Scratch an Englishman, and find a Protestant. 1926D. Parker Enough Rope 60 Scratch a lover, and find a foe. 1966Listener 10 Feb. 217/3 Scratch a Muse and as often as not you find nothing you can fathom, not even a woman. 1973Freedom 2 June 3/4 ‘Scratch a liberal and you find a fascist,’ says Westall. What bloody nonsense is this? Did he invent the saying himself to fit his present convenience? And what do you get when you scratch a Tory, a Fabian, a Social Democrat, a Marxist-Leninist? 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds xvii. 445 Scratch Justine's surface and you find a rebel.
4. intr. Of a bird or animal: To remove earth, etc., with the claws. Also trans. with advs., to scratch out, to extricate or disinter with the claws; to scratch up, to heap up by scratching.
c1520Andrew Noble Lyfe in Babees Bk. (1868) 220 They put their bylles in the erthe sometyme so depe that they can nat gete it vp agayne & than they scratche theyr billes out agayn with theyr fete. 1617Moryson Itin. i. 247, I found they [sc. jackals] had scratched up the earth almost to his body. 1867R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower xxiv, We..found the doomed chanticleer scratching and scraping peaceably on the dunghill.
5. fig.
a. To struggle to make money, to ‘scrape’. Also trans. to scrape up (money). Now dial. exc. transf.: to scratch for oneself (orig. U.S.), to fend for oneself; to scratch (around) for (something), to struggle for, to labour to achieve or find, to experience difficulty in acquiring, etc.
1509Barclay Ship of Fools (1874) I. 43 If he can be a fals extorcyoner Fasynge and bostynge to scratche and to kepe He shall be made a comon costomer. c1550Vertuous Scholehous C 6, Thou doest scratche and rake so long at home. 1560Pilkington Expos. Aggeus (1562) 66 Is it tyme for you that ye scrape and scratch together, all ye can laye youre handes on? 1850H. C. Watson Camp-Fires of Revolution 30 Then each one had to scratch for himself. 1856A. Cary Married 304 Shaking off the other child, [she] told him to scratch for hisself a time, while she began to prepare the supper. 1900Pearson's Mag. May 475/2 For this they put by ivery ha' penny they could scratch an' save. 1930V. Palmer Passage i. viii. 65 He and Bob had to scratch for a living the best way they could. Ibid. 160 We'll have to scratch for another year or two to pay off the new boat. 1947K. Tennant Lost Haven ii. 42 How much better did it look when you went off with that..moll, and left me and the kids to scratch for ourselves? 1953T. A. G. Hungerford Riverslake 202 If his mob gets in next election they'll whip up a nice old depression, just like they did the last time, and we'll all be scratching for jobs again. The only difference is that there'll be a million or so of these bludgers scratching with us. 1960Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 451/1 Scratch for (something)..scratch around for (something), to look for an object, to try to obtain something, esp. money or a much-wanted object; fig., to scratch in the same way a chicken does in searching for food. 1961Webster s.v., Turned out at an early age to scratch for themselves. 1962A. Marshall This is Grass 202 Not that I read much. I've been too busy scratching for a crust. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 3/5 They moved to hake and really did a job on that. Now, they're scratching for what's left of the hake. 1976Laurel (Montana) Outlook 9 June 16/3 This leaves the city scratching for a means to financing garbage disposal. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 104 Walters scratched around for 42 during which he was given a life by another blunder by Rowan. 1979‘A. Hailey’ Overload iii. x. 239, I scratched around for more details... Here are the exact dates of the convention and a preliminary program.
b. intr. with adv. To get along, on, through with difficulty.
1838Haliburton Clockm. Ser. ii. iv. 53, I think a body might have a chance to make out to scratch along to live here. 1867R. Broughton Cometh up as Flower xxix, I suppose we shall manage to scratch on pretty much as other people do. 1887Kentish Gloss. s.v., ‘Times is bad, but I just manage somehows to keep scratching along’. 1890Eng. Illustr. Mag. Dec. 152 Charley..contrived to scratch through for the Edinburgh M.D.
c. intr. To depart in haste, to make off with all speed. Freq. const. for. U.S. colloq.
1847J. S. Robb Streaks of Squatter Life 109 I'm cussed if I hadn't to turn round, too, and scratch for the snag agin! 1875‘Mark Twain’ in Atlantic Monthly Mar. 285/2 The moment it splits at the top..I know I've got to scratch to starboard in a hurry. 1887Outing (U.S.) May 120/1 As I fired the gun and the horses scratched away from the mark. 1904S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories i. 5 This little town will scratch fer th' tall timber..when the boys goes in to take her apart.
d. With up: to produce with difficulty, to scrape up.
1922H. Crane Let. 24 Dec. (1965) 110, I am growing bald trying to scratch up new ideas in housekeeping and personal hygiene. 1930‘Sapper’ Finger of Fate 188 It was six o'clock before the police arrived, and by that time we had scratched up a bit of breakfast and were feeling better.
†6.
a. trans. To seize rapaciously, as a bird with its claws; to get possession of by effort or with difficulty. to scratch acquaintance = ‘to scrape acquaintance’ (see scrape v. 5 b). Obs.
1582G. Martin Manif. Corrupt. Script. vi. 96 What a peeuish, malicious, & impudent corruption is this,..to seeke to scratch aduantage of the word Presbyter, & to make it signifie an Elder, not a Priest. c1610Rowlands Terrible Batt. 2 The great and good report which my beloued friend..hath giuen of you, hath made me more then halfe in loue with you, which makes me thinke in some sort (as the rude and rusticke phrase is) to scratch acquaintance of you. 1658–9Ludlow in Burton's Diary (1828) III. 145 If we take the people's liberties from them, they will scratch them back again. 1680C. Nesse Ch. Hist. 387 Satan, with all his savage sanhedrims, could not yet scratch Christs Apostles out of their mansions.
†b. intr. to scratch for, to struggle fiercely to obtain.
1581J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 415 Such as will skratch for heaven by force [orig. violentis illis, qui regnum Dei rapturi sunt], must undertake no small travayles. 1618Fletcher Loyal Subj. iv. iii, And were I fit to be your wife..Trust me I would scratch for ye but I would have ye.
7. a. trans. to scratch out: to erase (writing) with a penknife. Also (cf. 3 c), to delete by crossing through with a pen.
1711–12Swift Jrnl. to Stella 25 Jan., I have often scratched out passages from papers and pamphlets sent me,..because I thought them too severe. a1720Sewel Hist. Quakers (1765) I. iv. 253 [He] did, with his knife, scratch out the letters. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. viii. II. 302 The butler refused to scratch Hough's name out of the buttery book.
b. To erase the name of (a person) from a list; hence † to expel from a club or society (obs.); to expunge from a list of candidates or competitors; Sporting, to withdraw (a horse or other animal) from the list of entries for a race or other competition.
1685Roxb. Ball. (1888) V. 607 They kick'd me out of Goldsmiths'-Hall..; One cursed Tory scratch'd me! 1825Examiner 762/1 All payments should be made on the quarterly night, or be scratched; if ladies got intoxicated, they would be scratched. 1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 343 Of course I got ‘scratched’ from the trade Society. 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. lxiii, ‘Scratch you out of her will, I think you mean?’ ‘Of course I do. In short..I mean—to—Scratch me.’ 1859Hotten's Slang Dict. s.v., Tomboy was scratched for the Derby at 10 a.m. on Wednesday. 1885Truth 28 May 854/2 If he is not to start, the sooner Lord Alington scratches him the better.
c. U.S. Politics. Of a voter: To erase the name of (one or more of the candidates) from the party ticket. Also absol.
1841Politician's Register for 1841 3 Messrs. Ritner and Shulze, the Harrison Senatorial Electors, were scratched by a number of voters, and ran behind their colleagues. 1847Knickerbocker Apr. 382 (Th.), He never scratched the regular ticket. 1880Scribner's Monthly Oct. 909/1 They sometimes take the liberty of scratching a name, but they prefer, when the nominations are not too bad, to vote the regular ticket. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. iii. lxvi. II. 494 The number of candidates is often so great, and the knowledge which the average citizen has..of them so small, that many who would be glad to ‘scratch’ or ‘paste’ have really no data for doing so. 1890C. L. Norton Polit. Americanisms 100. 1904 N.Y. Tribune 8 Nov. 6 Vote the straight Republican ticket, without scratching. 1949Western Polit. Q. Mar. 107 Thousands of voters scratched their ballots.
d. intr. for refl. To withdraw from a competition; jocularly, to withdraw one's acceptance of an invitation.
In Oxford University, formerly said of an undergraduate who after having entered for an examination, and perhaps having done all or part of the paper work, withdrew his name before undergoing the viva voce, with the intention of presenting himself for the examination at a later time.
1866Mysteries of Isis 292 He was ploughed for ‘Smalls’ as you know; eventually he had ‘scratched’ at ‘Mods’, and on a second attempt had been again ploughed. 1878Athletic World 5 Apr. 12/1 Middlesex scratched to Charing Cross [in a cup-tie]. 1897Punch 6 Nov. 210/2 Wonder..how many people will scratch at the last moment.
†8. intr. To fish with a line with three or four hooks attached. Obs.
1659T. Barker Angling (ed. 2) 41 Nicholas Harridans..hath killed many a dish of Barbells that way with scratching.
9. a. To drag the nails or claws over a surface so as to make a faint grating noise. Also, of a pen, to move over the paper with a slight noise.
1703Rules of Civility 14 At the door of a Prince..it would be rude to knock; we are only to scratch. [Cf. quot. 1787 in scratch n.1 6.] 1909Daily News 2 Oct. 4/6 He [a dog] scratched so persistently at the door, that they let him have his way.
¶b. The verb-stem (or the imperative) is sometimes used quasi-adv. to express the sound of scratching.
1848Mrs. Gaskell Mary Barton xxix, The pen went..scratch, scratch over the paper. 1858Lytton What will He do i. i, Scratch across his back went one of those ingenious mechanical contrivances familiarly in vogue at fairs.
c. trans. To rub gratingly on a rough surface.
1875F. T. Buckland Log-Bk. 98 A match being scratched on a box for ignition. 1864Lowell Fireside Trav. 163 One may scratch a thought half a dozen times and get nothing at last but a faint sputter.
10. a. To scribble, write hurriedly or carelessly. Also with advs.
1806Scott Fam. Lett. June (1894) I. ii. 47, I also scratched down another ballad the morning of the day of meeting. 1883Reade in Harper's Mag. June 98/1, I..left her to scratch him a receipt. 1889Lady Waterford in Hare Two Noble Lives (1893) III. 461 The usual scene, Jenny singing and me scratching off letters for the second post.
b. To forge (banknotes or other papers). U.S. slang.
1859G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 77/2 Scratch, to write; to forge. 1926Flynn's Mag. 6 Nov. 518/2 Well, scratch th' note an' we'll blow. 1935N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 65 Scratch, v. to forge checks or other papers.
11. intr. Of horses: To contract the disease known as ‘the scratches’ in the hoofs.
1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) I. 345 They would grease and scratch sooner behind than before.
12. U.S. In billiards and related games: (a) intr. to make a stroke that incurs a penalty; spec. to hit the cue ball into a pocket; (b) trans. to hit (the cue ball) badly, incurring a penalty; spec. to hit (the cue ball) into a pocket. Cf. scratch n.1 11.
1909in Webster s.v. scratch v.i. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 75 He shot poorly, hit the wrong ball and scratched. 1964Sullivan & Crane Young Sportsman's Guide to Pocket Billiards ix. 91 Scratch, a playing stroke in which the player forfeits his playing turn. Most often caused by ‘scratching’ a ball unintentionally into a pocket. 1974Rules of Game 85/3 A player may scratch the cue ball into a pocket at the break shot or during continuous play. 1977New Yorker 4 July 24/2 This kid asked me, ‘Do you ever scratch?’.. I said, ‘I ain't never scratched in my life.’.. Just then, I took this shot and the cue ball went right in the pocket. He said, ‘Well, you've scratched now.’
13. Comb. (with object), as scratch-eye adj.; scratch-my-back = scratch-back 2; scratch-penny, a money-grubber (cf. scrape-penny).
1681S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 36 It turned to a *scratch-eye scuffle.
1887Mayor's Proclam. Oxf. 19 Aug. (St. Giles's Fair), Any person..who may prove to have assaulted any..person,..by means of a squirt, *scratch-my-back.
c1817Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 213 Are the military to starve, that a *scratchpenny may thrive?
Add:[7.] e. To cancel, abandon, ‘scrap’ (an undertaking or project).
1923Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves vii. 71 Thinks I'm not a good bet? Wants to scratch the fixture? Well, perhaps he's right. 1966Electronics 17 Oct. 104 In the air, these indications tell the crew whether all subsystems are operating properly. If they aren't, the crew can decide whether to scratch the mission or formulate a new plan of attack. 1973D. Ramsay Deadly Discretion 103 Scratch that. I'm not out to make enemies. 1987Newsweek 18 May 9 These aides..succeeded in scratching another Broadhurst party scheduled for mid-May. 1989Institutional Investor (Internat. ed.) May 181/1 A growing number of big players [sc. banks, etc.] seem prepared to scratch stabilization charges—even if this might mean bearing the entire cost of stabilization.
[9.] d. intr. To play music using the ‘scratch’ technique (see *scratch n.1 6 c); to act as a ‘scratch’ disc jockey.
1982Melody Maker 4 Dec. 12/2 There are guest deejays cutting, scratching and whomping. 1984New Yorker 5 Mar. 42/3 The d.j.s take the basic tapes, overdub them, drop out some instruments,..and scratch—which means rotate the record backward to the beat with your finger. 1987New Musical Express 14 Feb. 51/2 Never able to resist a joke, Eddie raps, scratches and twists the pillar with all the deftness of Grandmaster Flash.
e. trans. To manipulate (a record) using the ‘scratch’ technique.
1984N.Y. Times 17 June ii. 28/6 The Rockit Band includes Grandmixer D. ST., whose instrument is a turntable and who makes sounds by ‘scratching’ records back and forth. 1988Jackie 2 Apr. 2 Hasn't stopped moving..since he scratched his first disc. |