hatch
pronunciation
How to pronounce hatch in British English:
UK [hætʃ]
How to pronounce hatch in American English:
US [hætʃ]
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- Noun:
- the production of young from an egg
- shading consisting of multiple crossing lines
- a movable barrier covering a hatchway
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- Verb:
- emerge from the eggs
- devise or invent
- inlay with narrow strips or lines of a different substance such as gold or silver, for the purpose of decorating
- draw, cut, or engrave lines, usually parallel, on metal, wood, or paper
- sit on (eggs)
Word Origin
- hatch (v.1)
- early 13c., hachen, "to produce young from eggs by incubation," probably from an unrecorded Old English *hæccan, of unknown origin, related to Middle High German, German hecken "to mate" (used of birds). Meaning "to come forth from an egg," also "cause to come forth from an egg" are late 14c. Figurative use (of plots, etc.) is from early 14c. Related: Hatched; hatching.
- hatch (n.1)
- "opening, grated gate, half-door," Old English hæc (genitive hæcce) "fence, grating, gate," from Proto-Germanic *hak- (cognates: Middle High German heck, Dutch hek "fence, gate"), a word of uncertain origin. This apparently is the source of many of the Hatcher surnames; "one who lives near a gate." Sense of "opening in a ship's deck" is first recorded mid-13c. Drinking phrase down the hatch attested by 1931 (the image is nautical).
- hatch (v.2)
- "engrave, draw fine parallel lines," late 14c., from Old French hachier "chop up, hack" (14c.), from hache "ax" (see hatchet). Related: Hatched; hatching. The noun meaning "an engraved line or stroke" is from 1650s.
- hatch (n.2)
- "that which has hatched; action of hatching," 1620s, from hatch (v.1).
- hatch (n.3)
- "engraved lines or strokes," 1650s, from hatch (v.2).
Example
- 1. Frogspawn takes a week or so to hatch into tadpoles .
- 2. The hatch front must match the shape of the capsule .
- 3. Promiscuous birds hatch more dud chicks , according to new findings , which counter existing ideas about the evolution of promiscuity .
- 4. The only way to share mutable state is via the unsafe class which exists only as an escape hatch .
- 5. The oed goes on : the cuckoo " does not hatch its own offspring , but deposits its eggs in the nests of small birds . "