notch

[ noch ]

noun

1. an angular or V -shaped cut, indentation, or slit in an object, surface, or edge.
2. a cut or nick made in a stick or other object for record, as in keeping a tally.
3. New England and Upstate New York. a deep, narrow opening or pass between mountains; gap; defile.
4. Informal. a step, degree, or grade:

   This camera is a notch better than the other.

5. Metallurgy. a taphole in a blast furnace:

   iron notch; cinder notch.

verb (used with object)

1. to cut or make a notch in.
2. to record by notches:

   He notched each kill on the stick.

3. to score, as in a game:

   He notched another win.

notch

/ nɒtʃ /

noun

1. a V-shaped cut or indentation; nick
2. a cut or nick made in a tally stick or similar object
3. a narrow pass or gorge
4. informal.
   a step or level (esp in the phrase a notch above )

verb

1. to cut or make a notch in
2. to record with or as if with a notch
3. informal.
   usually foll by up to score or achieve

   the team notched up its fourth win

Other Words From

• notchy adjective
• un·notched adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of notch¹

1570–80; a notch (by false division) for an *otch < Old French oche notch

Word History and Origins

Origin of notch¹

C16: from incorrect division of an otch (as a notch ), from Old French oche notch, from Latin obsecāre to cut off, from secāre to cut

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. notch up / down, to move up or down or increase or decrease by notches or degrees:

   The temperature has notched up another degree.

More idioms and phrases containing notch

see take down a notch .

Example Sentences

About two weeks before your gathering, though, it’s time to take your efforts up a notch.

From Popular-Science

Take your kitchen game up a notch when you invest in creative cookware.

From Popular-Science

However, there are certain things you can do to take your search engine optimization a notch up with Bing.

From Search Engine Watch

Instead, use those patterns as signals for when to ramp up activities or take things down a notch.

From Outside Online

Billings suggested that it might be possible to store information about people as notches in the sides of cards.

From MIT Technology Review

Now they are a notch on a belt, and the savior can feel good about themselves.

From The Daily Beast

Can you imagine Superman being handed over to a writer just a notch above amateur?

From The Daily Beast

And from the start, with top-notch production values certainly upgraded from a “YouTube video,” Alpha House did.

From The Daily Beast

With top-notch designers, developers, and producers, they can even transform their own platforms.

From The Daily Beast

But while they have been taken down a notch, giants like Goldman Sachs still tower over their regulators.

From The Daily Beast

There must be a fly-wheel, with a notch to carry the rope, and also a small notch wheel on the drum-axle.

From Project Gutenberg

The sides of the notch were steep, and the boys rode through it in single file, Matt taking the lead.

From Project Gutenberg

The ridge was broken by a notch, and the road crawled through the opening and into the defile.

From Project Gutenberg

Matt had just time to catch a glimpse of a rock rushing down the side of the notch.

From Project Gutenberg

In less than a quarter of an hour afterward he reached the notch, Matt wheeling into it close at his heels.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• rung