Definition of HATCH

hatch

Plural: hatches

Noun

  • the production of young from an egg
  • shading consisting of multiple crossing lines
  • a movable barrier covering a hatchway
  • A horizontal door in a floor or ceiling.
  • A trapdoor.
  • An opening in a wall at window height for the purpose of serving food or other items. A pass through.
  • A small door in large mechanical structures and vehicles such as aircraft and spacecraft often provided for access for maintenance.
  • An opening through the deck of a ship or submarine
  • A gullet.
  • A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.
  • A floodgate; a sluice gate.
  • A bedstead.
  • An opening into, or in search of, a mine.
  • The act of hatching.
  • Development; disclosure; discovery.
  • A group of birds that emerged from eggs at a specified time.
  • The phenomenon, lasting 1–2 days, of large clouds of mayflies appearing in one location to mate, having reached maturity.
  • A birth, the birth records (in the newspaper).

Verb

Verb Forms: hatched, hatching, hatches

  • To emerge from an egg, or to devise a plan.
  • emerge from the eggs
    • "young birds, fish, and reptiles hatch"
  • 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
    • "hatch the sheet"
  • sit on (eggs)
  • To close with a hatch or hatches.
  • To emerge from an egg.
  • To break open when a young animal emerges from it.
  • To incubate eggs; to cause to hatch.
  • To devise (a plot or scheme).
  • To shade an area of (a drawing, diagram, etc.) with fine parallel lines, or with lines which cross each other (crosshatch).
  • To cross; to spot; to stain; to steep.

Examples

  • hatch, match, and dispatch
  • He tried to HATCH a plan to use his ’Q’ without a ’U’, a common Scrabble challenge.
  • I'm hatching this mysterious egg I found in the forest.
  • Moving the wardrobe revealed a previously hidden hatch in the ground.
  • She was delighted when she heard the crackling sound of the eggs hatching.
  • The cook passed the dishes through the serving hatch.
  • These pullets are from an April hatch.
  • These three chicks hatched yesterday morning.
  • World domination was only one of the evil schemes he had hatched over the years.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English hacche, hache, from Old English hæċ, from Proto-West Germanic *hakkju (compare Dutch hek ‘gate, railing’, Low German Heck ‘pasture gate, farmyard gate’), variant of *haggju ‘hedge’. More at hedge.

Synonyms

brood, concoct, cover, crosshatch, dream up, hachure, hatching, incubate, think of, think up, hatch up

Scrabble Score: 13

hatch: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
hatch: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
hatch: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

hatch: valid Words With Friends Word