scutch
Americanverb (used with object)
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to dress (flax) by beating.
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Also to dress (brick or stone).
noun
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Also called scutcher. a device for scutching flax fiber.
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Also a small picklike tool with two cutting edges for trimming brick.
verb
noun
verb
Etymology
Origin of scutch
1680–90; < Middle French *escoucher ( French écoucher ) to beat flax < Vulgar Latin *excuticāre, for Latin excutere ( ex- ex- 1 + -cutere, combining form of quatere to shatter; cf. quash)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
It is a native of Southern Europe, but is now wideÏspread in warm countries; Ð called also scutch grass, and in Bermuda, devil grass.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah
The scutch grass, the long rat-tail, and the golden cushag were swishing against his riding-breeches and her print dress.
From The Manxman A Novel - 1895 by Caine, Hall, Sir
They have, Mister Churchouse, and they scutch well and can be wrought into textiles.
From The Spinners by Phillpotts, Eden
The affray at Ferrara put the scutch upon the mighty railway scheme.
From Pilgrimage from the Alps to the Tiber Or The Influence of Romanism on Trade, Justice, and Knowledge by Wylie, James Aitken
On Wednesday evening a fire broke out in Mr. J. Elkin's scutch mill at Kilmore, near Omagh, which resulted in the complete destruction of the premises.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 152, May 30, 1917 by Seaman, Owen, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
