Word Definition

Scratch

  1. Made, done, or happening by chance; arranged with little or no preparation; determined by circumstances; haphazard; as, a scratch team; a scratch crew for a boat race; a scratch shot in billiards.
  2. A break in the surface of a thing made by scratching, or by rubbing with anything pointed or rough; a slight wound, mark, furrow, or incision.
  3. To use the claws or nails in tearing or in digging; to make scratches.
  4. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly.
  5. To cancel by drawing one or more lines through, as the name of a candidate upon a ballot, or of a horse in a list; hence, to erase; to efface; -- often with out.
  6. To dig or excavate with the claws; as, some animals scratch holes, in which they burrow.
  7. A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
  8. To rub and tear or mark the surface of with something sharp or ragged; to scrape, roughen, or wound slightly by drawing something pointed or rough across, as the claws, the nails, a pin, or the like.
  9. To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
  10. 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.
  11. A kind of wig covering only a portion of the head.
  12. A line across the prize ring; up to which boxers are brought when they join fight; hence, test, trial, or proof of courage; as, to bring to the scratch; to come up to the scratch.