A thatch or a thatch roof is a roof made from straw or reeds.
They would live in a small house with a green door and a new thatch.
2. uncountable noun
Thatch is straw or reeds used to make a roof.
Thatch is naturally warm in winter and cool in summer.
3. singular noun
You can refer to someone's hair as their thatchof hair, especially when it is very thick and untidy.
Teddy ran thick fingers through his unruly thatch of hair. [+ of]
thatch in British English
(θætʃ)
noun
1.
a. Also called: thatching
a roofing material that consists of straw, reed, etc
b.
a roof made of such a material
2.
anything resembling this, such as the hair of the head
3. Also called: thatch palm
any of various palms with leaves suitable for thatching
verb
4.
to cover (a roof) with thatch
Derived forms
thatcher (ˈthatcher)
noun
thatchless (ˈthatchless)
adjective
thatchy (ˈthatchy)
adjective
Word origin
Old English theccan to cover; related to thæc roof, Old Saxon thekkian to thatch, Old High German decchen, Old Norse thekja
thatch in American English
(θætʃ)
noun
1.
a.
a roof or roofing of straw, rushes, palm leaves, etc.
b.
material for such a roof
2.
any of a number of palms whose leaves are used for thatch
: also thatch palm
3.
anything suggestive of thatch on a roof as
a.
the hair growing on the head
b.
a matted layer of partly decayed leaves, stems, etc. between growing vegetation and the soil
verb transitive
4.
to cover with or as with thatch
5.
dethatch
Derived forms
thatchy (ˈthatchy)
adjectiveWord forms: ˈthatchier or ˈthatchiest
Word origin
ME thecchen < OE thecc(e)an, akin to Ger decken, to cover < IE base *(s)teg-, to cover > Gr stegos, roof, L tegere, to cover
Examples of 'thatch' in a sentence
thatch
Surely thatched roofs made a difference too?
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Bring on those thatched roofs.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The camp's four reed and thatched chalets have bright, locally designed fabrics.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Sometimes swathes of northern cities find themselves submerged, which is just bad luck, but often as not it affects small villages with thatched houses.
Times, Sunday Times (2017)
The only recent changes have been trees blowing down and the repair of thatched roofs.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The laughing thug then torched the thatched roof with a cigarette lighter.
The Sun (2010)
Small villages had bunting stretched between thatched houses and flags in the gardens.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
So what are the realities of buying a thatched home?
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
He braced his elbow against her knee and his fingers again brushed the thatch of hair between her legs.
Christina Dodd SOMEDAY MY PRINCE (1999)
Contemporary tents and thatched platform huts command amazing views and the earthy colours of nature mingle with contemporary lounge areas.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
As is the newly opened spa where you can opt to have a massage in a thatched hut on the beach.
The Sun (2009)
Most of the houses were thatched.
Smout, T.C. & Wood, Sydney Scottish Voices 1745-1960 (1990)
You stay in simple but comfortable thatched wooden houses, built on stilts.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Yet there are benefits to having a thatched home, beyond its rugged good looks.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
BBQ lunches are served on a huge terrace with thatched huts.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
He is physically present in the bounds of this next scene, a side of a round thatched hut.
Clerk, Jayana & Siegel, Ruth Modern Literatures of the Non-Western World: Where the Waters Are Born (1995)
A thatched house can also be quite economical to heat as thatch is a great form of insulation.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
My father had such an improbably thick thatch of dark brown hair that a friend of mine once asked me if he wore a wig.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
From a practical point of view, white does not marry well with life in muddy villages full of thatched huts.
Crowley, Vivianne Phoenix From the Flame (1994)
A large thatched property would be about 500,000.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Insurers often turn their noses up at features such as thatched roofs, which are deemed high-risk.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Thatched huts stood in neat rows; labourers farmed sweet potato, maize and beans.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
They're also the only thatched council homes and are thought to be more than 500 years old.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
His huts' thatch is trimmed, there is a lawn in the courtyard and shrubs and flowers.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Visitors sleep in safari tents on thatched wooden platforms above the lake, bathrooms are built of local reeds and thatch, and there are composting loos.