Scotch
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level
Definitions
- 1 A surface cut or abrasion.
- 2 Alternative form of Scotch (“whisky”). alt-of, alternative, countable, uncountable
"A waiter brought his aperitif, which was a small scotch and soda, and as he sipped it gratefully he sighed."
- 3 Scotch tape. uncountable
- 4 Whisky distilled in Scotland, especially from malted barley. uncountable
"Paul has drunk a lot of Scotch."
- 5 whiskey distilled in Scotland; especially whiskey made from malted barley in a pot still wordnet
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- 6 A line drawn on the ground, as one used in playing hopscotch.
- 7 Any variety of Scotch. countable
"My favorite Scotches are Glenlivet and Laphroaig."
- 8 a slight surface cut (especially a notch that is made to keep a tally) wordnet
- 9 A block for a wheel or other round object; a chock, wedge, prop, or other support, to prevent slipping.
"a scotch for a wheel or a log on inclined ground"
- 10 A glass of Scotch. countable
"Gimme a Scotch."
- 1 To cut or score; to wound superficially. transitive
"We have scotched the snake, not killed it."
- 2 To rape. Australian, slang, transitive
- 3 make a small cut or score into wordnet
- 4 To prevent (something) from being successful. transitive
"The rain scotched his plans of going to the beach."
- 5 hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of wordnet
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- 6 To debunk or discredit an idea or rumor. transitive
"The prime minister scotched rumors of his resignation."
- 7 To block a wheel or other round object. transitive
"The workers stopped the rig on an incline and scotched the wheels."
- 8 To dress (stone) with a pick or pointed instrument. transitive
- 9 To beat yarn in order to break up slugs and align the threads. transitive
"Yarn is scotched immediately after it has been dried and while it is still warm. http://www.google.com/patents?id=DXdGAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP3&vq=scotched&dq=scotching"
- 10 To clothe or cover up. obsolete, transitive
- 1 Alternative form of Scotch (“Scottish”) alt-of, alternative
- 2 Of or from Scotland; Scottish. dated, not-comparable
"Behind all his assumed unsocialism there lay a true warm heart; nor could anything be kindlier than the welcome which, whenever they did come to him, any of his Scotch relatives received."
- 1 avoiding waste wordnet
- 2 of or relating to or characteristic of Scotland or its people or culture or its English dialect or Gaelic language wordnet
- 1 The Scots language. dated
"But Rob was just saying what a shame it was that folk should be shamed nowadays to speak Scotch – or they called it Scots if they did, the split-tongued sourocks!"
- 2 The Scottish dialect of English. dated
- 3 The people of Scotland. dated
"The Scotch are a hardy bunch."
- 4 The opening 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4. informal
"Karpov played the Scotch against Anand."
Example
More examples"John drinks Scotch and Mary bourbon."
Etymology
From Middle English scocchen (“to cut”), perhaps from Anglo-Norman escocher (“to notch”), from es- (“intensive prefix”) (from Latin ex-) + Old French coche (“notch”). Not related to Scotch.
From 3M's Scotch tape.
Contraction of Scottish. The chess opening is supposedly after its having been played in a correspondence game between Edinburgh, Scotland, and London, England.
Related phrases
More for "scotch"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.