botch

¹ American  

[boch] / bɒtʃ /

noun

1. a swelling on the skin; a boil.

2. an eruptive disease.

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botch ² American  

[boch] / bɒtʃ /

verb (used with object)

1. to spoil by poor work; bungle (often followed byup ).

   He botched up the job thoroughly.

   Synonyms:

   flub, butcher, muff, mismanage, ruin

2. to do or say in a bungling manner.

3. to mend or patch in a clumsy manner.

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noun

1. a clumsy or poor piece of work; bungle.

   He made a complete botch of his first attempt at baking.

2. a clumsily added part or patch.

3. a disorderly or confused combination.

botch British  

/ bɒtʃ /

verb

1. to spoil through clumsiness or ineptitude

2. to repair badly or clumsily

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noun

1. Also called: botch-up.  a badly done piece of work or repair (esp in the phrase make a botch of ( something ))

Other Word Forms

• botcher noun
• botchery noun

Etymology

Origin of botch¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English bocche, botch(e), from Old North French boche, dialectal variant of Old French, Middle French boce boss ²

Origin of botch¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English bocchen “to patch up”; perhaps to be identified with bocchen “to swell up, bulge” (verbal derivative of bocche botch ² ), though sense development unclear

Example Sentences

But survivors then told the BBC that coastguards had caused the migrant boat to capsize following a botched attempt to tow it.

From BBC

Officers searched him and found two emaciated and potentially sedated orange-fronted parakeets — the victims of an alleged botched smuggling attempt — stuffed in his underwear, according to court documents.

From Los Angeles Times

The investigation, published by the world-famous London hospital into Yaser Jabbar, found widespread evidence of unacceptable practice in the botched operations he carried out.

From BBC

How they did so while blowing a lead on a last-minute miracle pass and then nearly botching the game on an overtime drive, even heaven surely has no idea.

From Los Angeles Times

"And then I hit a few stories that were connected to why he was appearing on my TV screen, he had botched other operations up."

From BBC

Related Words

• bobble
• bumble
• bungle
• err
• flub
• fumble
• miscalculate
• mishandle
• misjudge
• mismanage
• muff
• screw up