• enPR: skrăch, IPA: /skɹætʃ/

scratch (scratches, present participle scratching; past and past participle scratched)

1. To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.

   Could you please scratch my back?

   • 1733, Jonathan Swift, On Poetry, a Rhapsody

     Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.

2. To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation; to cause itching.

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

   1. For a man, when kissing someone, to irritate the skin of that person with one's unshaven beard.
3. To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).

   A real diamond can easily scratch a pane of glass.

4. To cross out, strike out, strike through some text on a page.
   1. Hence, to remove, ignore or delete.

      Scratch what I said earlier; I was wrong.

      When the favorite was scratched from the race, there was a riot at the betting windows.

5. (music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also scratching).
6. (billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

   Embarrassingly, he scratched on the break, popping the cue completely off the table.

7. (billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
8. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly; scrawl.
   • 1713-14, Jonathan Swift, The Publick Spirit of the Whigs

     Scratch out a pamphlet.

9. (ambitransitive) To dig or excavate with the claws.

   Some animals scratch holes, in which they burrow.

10. To dig or scrape (a person's skin) with claws or fingernails in self-defense or with the intention to injure.

    The cat scratched the little girl.

• scrattle

• French: gratter
• German: kratzen
• Italian: grattare, graffiare
• Portuguese: coçar, rascar, raspar
• Russian: цара́пать
• Spanish: rascar

• French: égratigner
• German: kratzen
• Italian: graffiare, raspare, grattare
• Portuguese: raspar
• Russian: чеса́ть
• Spanish: raspar

• French: piquer

• French: rayer
• German: zerkratzen, verkratzen
• Italian: graffiare
• Portuguese: arranhar
• Russian: цара́пать
• Spanish: arañar, rasguñar, rayar

• French: biffer, rayer, oblitérer
• Italian: obliterare
• Portuguese: apagar, riscar
• Russian: зачеркнуть

• French: griffonner

• French: griffer
• Russian: поцарапать
• Spanish: arañar

scratch

1. A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.

   I can’t believe there is a scratch in the paint already.

   Her skin was covered with tiny scratches.

   • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene iv]:

     God forbid a shallow scratch should drive / The prince of Wales from such a field as this.

   • The coarse file […] makes deep scratches in the work.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Henry and Emma ↗, line 503

     These nails with scratches deform my breast.

   • 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619 ↗:

     Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.

2. An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.

   The dog sat up and had a good scratch.

3. (sports)
   1. A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.
   2. A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.
   3. (cycling) The last riders to depart in a handicap race.
   4. (billiards) An aberration.
      1. A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
      2. (archaic, US, slang) A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
4. (slang) Money.
   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 153:

     He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch.

5. A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.
6. (in the plural) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
   • 1887, James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser

     These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches, and by a scaly exfoliation […].

7. (now, historical) A scratch wig.
   • 1775, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 26 March:

     [H]e turned to him with a dejected Face, and said ‘ – pray Sir, – could you touch up This a little?’ taking hold of his frightful scratch.

8. (music) A genre of Virgin Islander music, better known as fungi.

• (Virgin Islander music): fungi, quelbe

• French: égratignure, rayure
• German: Kratzer
• Italian: graffio, strappo, incrinatura
• Portuguese: arranhão, risco
• Russian: цара́пина
• Spanish: arañazo

• Italian: grattamento
• Russian: чеса́ние

• French: pognon, flouze, blé, grisbi, thune
• Italian: malloppo
• Russian: ба́бки

scratch (not comparable)

1. For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.

   This is scratch paper, so go ahead and scribble whatever you want on it.

2. Hastily assembled, arranged or constructed, from whatever materials are to hand, with little or no preparation
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 740:

     Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.

3. (computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.
4. (sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.

1. (programming) A free educational visual programming language developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab.
2. Surname