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etch

verb
/ɛt͡ʃ/

Etymology

From Dutch etsen (“to etch”), from German ätzen (“to etch”), from Old High German azzon (“to cause to bite or feed”), from Proto-Germanic *atjaną, causative of *etaną (“to eat”) (whence also English eat).

  1. derived from *atjaną✻
  2. derived from azzon
  3. derived from ätzen
  4. borrowed from etsen

Definitions

  1. To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a…

    To cut into a surface with an acid or other corrosive substance in order to make a pattern. Best known as a technique for creating printing plates, but also used for decoration on metal, and, in modern industry, to make circuit boards.

  2. To engrave a surface.

  3. To make a lasting impression.

    • The memory of 9/11 is etched into my mind.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. To sketch

      To sketch; to delineate.

      • There are many such empty terms to be found in some learned writers, to which they had recourse to etch out their system.

    2. Obsolete form of eddish.

      • Black Oats are commonly sown upon an Etch Crop, or on a Lay which they plow up in January, when the Earth is moist, taking care to turn the Turf well, and to lay it even and flat.

The neighborhood

Derived

cryoetch, etchable, etcher, etchplain, etchplanation, microetch, overetch, photoetch, piranha etch, self-etch, total-etch, underetch

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for etch. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA