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scotch1

Pronunciation: /skɒtʃ/

Translate scotch | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of scotch

verb

  • 1 [with object] decisively put an end to:a spokesman has scotched the rumours
  • archaic render (something regarded as dangerous) temporarily harmless:feudal power in France was scotched, though far from killed
  • 2 [with object and adverbial] wedge (someone or something) somewhere:he soon scotched himself against a wall
  • [with object] archaic prevent (a wheel or other rolling object) from moving or slipping by placing a wedge underneath: when Lucille reached the depot, the coachman shouted ‘Scotch the wheels!’

noun

archaic
  • a wedge placed under a wheel or other rolling object to prevent it moving or slipping.

Origin:

early 17th century (as a noun): of unknown origin; perhaps related to skate1. The sense 'render temporarily harmless' is based on an emendation of Shakespeare's Macbeth iii. ii. 13 as ‘We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it’, originally understood as a use of scotch2; the sense 'put an end to' (early 19th century) results from the influence on this of the notion of wedging or blocking something so as to render it inoperative

scotch in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of scotch in the US English dictionary

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