SCRATCHING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Scratching

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/skrˈætʃɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Scratch v. t. (past & past part. scratched; pres. part. scratching)

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. "Small sand-colored stones, so hard as to scratch glass." "Be mindful, when invention fails, To scratch your head, and bite your nails."

To write or draw hastily or awkwardly. "Scratch out a pamphlet."

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.

To dig or excavate with the claws; as, some animals scratch holes, in which they burrow.

To scratch a ticket, to cancel one or more names of candidates on a party ballot; to refuse to vote the party ticket in its entirety. (U. S.)

Scratch v. i.

To use the claws or nails in tearing or in digging; to make scratches. "Dull, tame things,... that will neither bite nor scratch."

(Billiards) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game. (Cant, U. S.)

adverb

Scratching adv. With the action of scratching.

See images of 'Scratching'

Etymology of 'Scratching'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Scratching" Quotes from Famous Books

... beginning of the planting season. The King is represented by the Minister of Agriculture, who goes with a procession to the selected spot, and, after some religious service, takes hold of a plough which is drawn by two gayly bedecked oxen. After scratching the ground for about an hour, four ladies of the royal household, attired in ancient costumes, sow various kinds of seed carried in gilded baskets. The grain thus scattered is considered sacred, and there is a wild scramble for it at the close. Many signs and symbols are attached ...

— Travels in the Far East • Ellen Mary Hayes Peck

... light feet, as of some beast stirring and scratching in the trees overhead, and there with a light jingling noise. Was it a squirrel? Whatever it was, it raced about the tree, coming nearer and going further away, till it fell with a weight on my breast, and, shivering ...

— A Monk of Fife • Andrew Lang

... march against the cacique, and if he refused their alliance, they were to attack and overthrow him. Moreover, the Spaniards never weary of repeating, as a proof of the wealth they dream of, that by just scratching the earth almost anywhere, grains of gold are found. I only repeat here what ...

— De Orbe Novo, Volume 1 (of 2) - The Eight Decades of Peter Martyr D'Anghera • Trans. by Francis Augustus MacNutt

... woman have been putting licks on to get ready for you, that I've been too pushed to think about the wrongs being did to me. But not knowing any more about it than I do, I think this woman's rumpus all sounds kinder like a hen scratching around in unlikely and contrary corners for the bread of life, when she knows they is plenty of crumbs at the kitchen door to be et up. But if you're going to ride over to Flat Rock this evening you'd better go on and get back in time for some riz biscuits as Elinory is ...

— The Road to Providence • Maria Thompson Daviess

... Beaumanoir, who, of course, did not understand the instructions given to the man, was fumigating Beliani's letter with rapid puffs of smoke, and incidentally scratching the ...

— A Son of the Immortals • Louis Tracy

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