hatch

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   sit on eggs

   The chickens hatched their nests.

2. 2
   verb

   emerge from the eggs

   young birds, fish, and reptiles hatch

3. 3
   verb

   draw, cut, or engrave lines, usually parallel, on metal, wood, or paper

   hatch the sheet

4. 4
   noun

   A horizontal door in a floor or ceiling.

   Moving the wardrobe revealed a previously hidden hatch in the ground.

5. 5
   noun

   An opening in a wall at window height for the purpose of serving food or other items. A pass through.

   The cook passed the dishes through the serving hatch.

6. 6
   noun

   A small door in large mechanical structures and vehicles such as aircraft and spacecraft often provided for access for maintenance.

   A surprising number of incidents is due to roof hatches being left loose or in the raised position when locomotives return to service after maintenance. On one occasion, a 25kV overhead line was damaged by an open hatch.

7. 7
   noun

   A floodgate; a sluice gate.

   The farmers lower down the brook pull up the hatches to let the flood pass.

8. 8
   noun

   A bedstead.

   It consisted of a rude wooden stool , and still ruder hatch or bed-frame

Etymology

From Middle French hacher (“to chop, slice up, incise with fine lines”), from Old French hacher, hachier, from Frankish *hakōn, *hakkōn, from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hack”). More at hack.