scratch

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To rub your skin with your nails, often to relieve itching.

   Don't scratch your insect bites!

2. 2
   verb

   To make a thin mark or cut on a surface with something sharp.

   A real diamond can easily scratch a pane of glass.

3. 3
   verb

   To rub the skin in an unpleasant way, causing irritation.

   I don't like that new scarf because it scratches my neck.

4. 4
   noun

   A thin mark or cut left on a surface by something sharp.

   There was a deep scratch along the side of the car.

Multiword verbs with scratch

• scratch off Phrasal verb B1

  to write something quickly and roughly

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Scratch probably arose in the medieval period through the combination of two English dialect words with the same meaning, scrat and cratch. The expressions from scratch and up to scratch later developed from sporting handicap systems in which a scratched line marked the normal starting position.

From Middle English scracchen, of uncertain origin. Probably a blend of Middle English scratten (“to scratch”) and cracchen (“to scratch”). More at scrat and cratch.

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary