Scratch vs Reach - What's the difference?
scratch | reach |
To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.
* Jonathan Swift
To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation.
To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).
To remove, ignore or delete.
(music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also ).
(billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
(billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skilful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
To write or draw hastily or awkwardly.
* Jonathan Swift
To dig or excavate with the claws.
(lb) A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.
:
:
*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
*:God forbid a shallow scratch should drive / The prince of Wales from such a field as this.
*(Joseph Moxon) (1627-1691)
*:The coarse filemakes deep scratches in the work.
*1709 , (Matthew Prior), ''
*:These nails with scratches deform my breast.
*
*:Thus, when he drew up instructions in lawyer language, he expressed the important words by an initial, a medial, or a final consonant, and made scratches for all the words between; his clerks, however, understood him very well.
*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=Foreword An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.
:
(lb)
#A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.
#:(Grose)
#A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.
#(lb) An aberration.
##A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
## A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
(label) Money.
*2006 , (Clive James), North Face of Soho , Picador 2007, p. 153:
*:He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch .
A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.
(lb) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
*1887 , James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser
*:These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches , and by a scaly exfoliation.
A kind of wig covering only a portion of the head.
For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.
Hastily assembled; put together in a hurry or from disparate elements.
* 1988 , James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom , Oxford 2004, p. 740:
(computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.
Constructed from whatever materials are to hand.
(sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.
* {{quote-book
, year=1964
, author=Charles Price
, title=The American golfer
, page=48
, passage=... the shot that does most to make a genuine scratch golfer is the mashie shot up to the pin — not merely up to the green.}}
Made, done, or happening by chance; arranged with little or no preparation; determined by circumstances; haphazard.
To extend; to stretch; to thrust out; to put forth, as a limb, a member, something held, or the like.
Hence, to deliver by stretching out a member, especially the hand; to give with the hand; to pass to another; to hand over.
To attain or obtain by stretching forth the hand; to extend some part of the body, or something held by one, so as to touch, strike, grasp, etc.
To strike or touch with a missile.
Hence, to extend an action, effort, or influence to; to penetrate to; to pierce, or cut, as far as.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair.}}
To extend to; to stretch out as far as; to touch by virtue of extent.
* Milton
To arrive at by effort of any kind; to attain to; to gain; to be advanced to.
* Cheyne
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5
, passage=But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud,
(obsolete) To understand; to comprehend.
* Beaumont and Fletcher
(obsolete) To overreach; to deceive.
To stretch out the hand.
To strain after something; to make efforts.
To extend in dimension, time etc.; to stretch out continuously ((past), (beyond), (above), (from) etc. something).
* 1994 , Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom , Abacus 2010, p. 4:
(nautical) To sail on the wind, as from one point of tacking to another, or with the wind nearly abeam.
The act of stretching or extending; extension; power of reaching or touching with the person, or a limb, or something held or thrown.
* 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VI
The power of stretching out or extending action, influence, or the like; power of attainment or management; extent of force or capacity.
* Hayward
* Alexander Pope
Extent; stretch; expanse; hence, application; influence; result; scope.
* Milton
* Shakespeare
(informal) An exaggeration; an extension beyond evidence or normal; a stretch.
(boxing) The distance a boxer's arm can extend to land a blow.
An extended portion of land or water; a stretch; a straight portion of a stream or river, as from one turn to another; a level stretch, as between locks in a canal; an arm of the sea extending up into the land.
* Tennyson
* Holland
(nautical) Any point of sail in which the wind comes from the side of a vessel, excluding close-hauled.
(obsolete) An article to obtain an advantage.
* Francis Bacon
The pole or rod connecting the rear axle with the forward bolster of a wagon.
An effort to vomit; a retching.
As a verb scratch
is to rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.As a noun scratch
is (lb) a disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.As an adjective scratch
is for or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc work.As an acronym reach is
.scratch
English
(wikipedia scratch)Verb
(es)- Could you please scratch my back?
- Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.
- I don't like that new scarf because it scratches my neck.
- A real diamond can easily scratch a pane of glass.
- Scratch what I said earlier; I was wrong.
- When the favorite was scratched from the race, there was a riot at the betting windows.
- Embarrassingly, he scratched on the break, popping the cue completely off the table.
- Scratch out a pamphlet.
- Some animals scratch holes, in which they burrow.
Derived terms
* scratch one's head * scratch the surface * scratcher * scratchpad * scratchy * scratch an itch * Old ScratchSynonyms
* scrattleNoun
(es)Henry and Emma, line 503
citation, passage=A very neat old woman, still in her good outdoor coat and best beehive hat, was sitting at a polished mahogany table on whose surface there were several scored scratches so deep that a triangular piece of the veneer had come cleanly away, […].}}
Derived terms
* from scratch * scratch-built * start from scratch * Old ScratchAdjective
(-)- This is scratch paper, so go ahead and scribble whatever you want on it.
- Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.
- a scratch''' team; a '''scratch''' crew for a boat race; a '''scratch shot in billiards
- a scratch race: one without restrictions regarding the entry of competitors
Derived terms
* scratch monkey * scratch sheetReferences
* *The Jargon File - Scratch
reach
English
Verb
(es)- Thy desire leads to no excess / That reaches blame.
- The best account of the appearances of nature which human penetration can reach , comes short of its reality.
- Do what, sir? I reach you not.
- (South)
- The Thembu tribe reaches back for twenty generations to King Zwide.
Usage notes
* In the past, raught'', ''rought'' and ''retcht could be found as past tense forms; these are now obsolete, except perhaps in some dialects.Derived terms
* far-reaching * forereach * outreach * overreach * reachable * reach an early grave * reach for the stars * rereach *Noun
(es)- The fruit is beyond my reach .
- to be within reach of cannon shot
- and we have learned not to fire at any of the dinosaurs unless we can keep out of their reach for at least two minutes after hitting them in the brain or spine, or five minutes after puncturing their hearts—it takes them so long to die.
- Drawn by others who had deeper reaches than themselves to matters which they least intended.
- Be sure yourself and your own reach to know.
- And on the left hand, hell, / With long reach , interposed.
- I am to pray you not to strain my speech / To grosser issues, nor to larger reach / Than to suspicion.
- To call George eloquent is certainly a reach .
- The river's wooded reach .
- The coast is very full of creeks and reaches .
- The Duke of Parma had particular reaches and ends of his own underhand to cross the design.