SCRATCH • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Scratch

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/skrætʃ/ Listen

Scratch

noun

1.

An abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off. Synonyms: abrasion, excoriation, scrape.

2.

A depression scratched or carved into a surface. Synonyms: dent, incision, prick, slit.

3.

Informal terms for money. Synonyms: boodle, bread, cabbage, clams, dinero, dough, gelt, kale, lettuce, lolly, loot, lucre, moolah, pelf, shekels, simoleons, sugar, wampum.

4.

A competitor who has withdrawn from competition.

5.

A line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game. Synonyms: scratch line, start, starting line.

6.

Dry mash for poultry. Synonym: chicken feed.

7.

A harsh noise made by scraping. Synonyms: scrape, scraping, scratching.

8.

Poor handwriting. Synonyms: cacography, scrawl, scribble.

9.

(golf) a handicap of zero strokes.

10.

An indication of damage. Synonyms: mark, scar, scrape.

verb

(past & past part. scratched; pres. part. scratching)

1.

Cause friction. Synonyms: chafe, fray, fret, rub.

2.

Cut the surface of; wear away the surface of. Synonyms: scrape, scratch up.

3.

Scrape or rub as if to relieve itching. Synonyms: itch, rub.

4.

Postpone indefinitely or annul something that was scheduled. Synonyms: call off, cancel, scrub. "Cancel the dinner party" , "We had to scrub our vacation plans" , "Scratch that meeting--the chair is ill"

5.

Remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line. Synonyms: excise, expunge, strike. "Scratch that remark"

6.

Gather (money or other resources) together over time. Synonyms: come up, scrape, scrape up. "They scratched a meager living"

7.

Carve, cut, or etch into a material or surface. Synonyms: engrave, grave, inscribe. "Engraved the trophy cupt with the winner's" , "The lovers scratched their names into the bark of the tree"

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Related searches:

cat scratch disease

chicken scratch

WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University

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"Scratch" Quotes from Famous Books

... another shot from Bald Knob, eh? Must be some discouraging to hit only once out of three times at three hundred yards, and a scratch at that." ...

— A Texas Ranger • William MacLeod Raine

... some one flippantly put the case, there came to be in many sections "two kinds of people—Democrats and negroes." It was the general feeling on the part of the whites that to fail to vote was shameful, to scratch a ticket was a crime, and to attempt to organize the negroes was treason to one's race. The "Confederate brigadier" sounded the rallying cry at every election, and a military record came to be almost a ...

— The New South - A Chronicle Of Social And Industrial Evolution • Holland Thompson

... calf with the white face here: as I live, you were the prettiest fool to play withall, the wittiest little varlet, it would talk: Lord how it talk't! and when I angred it, it would cry out, and scratch, and eat no meat, and it would say, ...

— The Scornful Lady • Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher

... stings, all the misfortunes of life seemed to come upon him at once. Bankruptcy, bereavement, scandalization, and eruptive disease so irritating that he had to re-enforce his ten finger-nails with pieces of earthenware to scratch himself withal. His wife took the diagnosis of his complaints and prescribed profanity. She thought he would feel better if between the paroxysms of grief and pain he would swear a little. For each boil a plaster ...

— New Tabernacle Sermons • Thomas De Witt Talmage

... sigh, "What becomes of old people being better than young ones, now? Are you and I bears and lions? Do we scratch out each other's eyes? It is all puzzle, puzzle, puzzle. I wish I was dead! Nurse says, when I'm dead I shall understand it all. But I don't know; I saw a dead cat once, and she didn't seem to know as much as before; puzzle, puzzle. Compton, do you think ...

— A Terrible Temptation - A Story of To-Day • Charles Reade

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