Scratch Definition
skrăch
scratched, scratches, scratching
verb
scratched, scratches, scratching
To mark, break, or cut the surface of slightly with something pointed or sharp.
Webster's New World
To use nails or claws in digging or wounding.
Webster's New World
To rub or scrape the skin lightly, as with the fingernails, to relieve itching, etc.
Webster's New World
To manage to get by; scrape by.
Webster's New World
To chafe.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
noun
scratches
A mark resembling a line that is produced by scratching.
American Heritage
A slight wound.
American Heritage
A mark or tear made in a surface by something sharp or rough.
Webster's New World
A wound, usually superficial, inflicted by nails, claws, or something pointed pulled across the skin, etc.
Webster's New World
A hasty mark, as of a pen; scribble.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
adjective
Done haphazardly or by chance.
American Heritage
Used for hasty notes, preliminary or tentative figuring, etc.
Scratch paper.
Webster's New World
Skillful enough to require no handicap or special allowance in a contest.
A scratch golfer.
Webster's New World
Assembled hastily or at random.
American Heritage
Having no golf handicap.
American Heritage
idiom
from scratch
- From the very beginning.
American Heritage
scratch the surface
- To investigate or treat something in superficial or preliminary fashion.
American Heritage
up to scratch
- Meeting the requirements.
- In fit condition.
American Heritage
from scratch
- from the start; from the very beginning
- from nothing; without resources, advantage, etc.
Webster's New World
scratch one's head
- to puzzle over a question or problem
Webster's New World
Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Scratch
Origin of Scratch
Middle English scracchen probably blend of scratten to scratch and cracchen to scratch (possibly from Middle Dutch cratsen)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Probably from a blend of the Middle English words scratten (“to scratch") and crachen (“to scratch").
From Wiktionary
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