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blotch

[bloch]
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noun
  1. a large, irregular spot or blot.
  2. Plant Pathology.
    1. a diseased, discolored spot or area on a plant.
    2. a disease so characterized, usually accompanied by cankers and lesions.
  3. a skin eruption; blemish.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to mark with blotches; blot, spot, or blur: The floor of the forest was blotched with cool, dark moss.
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adjective
  1. Textiles. of or relating to blotch printing, or to the colored ground produced by this process.
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Origin of blotch

1595–1605; perhaps blend of blot1 + botch2

Synonyms for blotch

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1. splotch, mark, blemish, stain.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for blotch

blot, blemish, eruption, spot, patch, splash, breakout, stigma, stain, mark, acne

Examples from the Web for blotch

Historical Examples of blotch

  • The lighthouse was a white dot and the fish shanties a blotch of brown.

    Keziah Coffin

    Joseph C. Lincoln

  • The month was April, and the day was blithe, with no blotch in the sky.

    The Jucklins

    Opie Read

  • There was indeed a blotch on one of the negatives, which I was assured was a spirit.

    Mystic London:

    Charles Maurice Davies

  • With all the writer's care, however, he had not been able to avoid a blotch.

  • Mr. Blotch remained in the engine room throughout the journey.

    Local Color

    Irvin S. Cobb

British Dictionary definitions for blotch

blotch

noun
  1. an irregular spot or discoloration, esp a dark and relatively large one such as an ink stain
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verb
  1. to become or cause to become marked by such discoloration
  2. (intr) (of a pen or ink) to write or flow unevenly in blotches
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Word Origin for blotch

C17: probably from botch, influenced by blot 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for blotch

n.

c.1600, perhaps a blend of blot and botch or patch.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
blotch in Science

blotch

[blŏch]
  1. Any of several plant diseases caused by fungi and resulting in brown or black dead areas on leaves or fruit.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.