Scratch vs Smash - What's the difference?
scratch | smash |
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.
The sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.
(British, colloquial) A traffic accident.
(colloquial, entertainment) Something very successful.
* 2012 , Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph , 15 November 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world]
(tennis) A very hard overhead shot hit sharply downward.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=July 3
, author=Piers Newbury
, title=Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final
, work=BBC Sport
(colloquial, archaic) bankruptcy
To break (something brittle) violently.
* 1895 , , (The Time Machine) , Chapter X
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To hit extremely hard.
(figuratively) To ruin completely and suddenly.
(figuratively) To defeat overwhelmingly.
(US) To deform through continuous pressure.
To be destroyed by being smashed.
(transitive, slang, vulgar, of a man) To have sexual intercourse with.
As verbs the difference between scratch and smash
is that scratch is to rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc while smash is to break (something brittle) violently.As nouns the difference between scratch and smash
is that scratch is (lb) a disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching while smash is the sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.As an adjective scratch
is for or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc work.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
smash
English
Noun
(smashes)- I could hear the screech of the brakes, then the horrible smash of cars colliding.
- The driver and two passengers were badly injured in the smash .
- This new show of mine is sure to be a smash .
- Soundcheck for the band, today, takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It is late afternoon and while the arena's 17,000 outdoor seats are still empty the four members of Mumford & Sons – prospering British folk band, in the middle of a long tour of Australia, the US and the UK, their newly released album Babel a smash on all fronts – wander to centre stage.
- A smash may not be as pretty as a good half volley, but it can still win points.
citation, page= , passage=A Nadal forehand into the net gave Djokovic the set and the Spaniard appeared rattled, firing a smash over the baseline in a rare moment of promise at 30-30 at the start of the third.}}
Synonyms
* (sound of a violent impact ): crash * (colloquial: traffic accident ): crash * (colloquial: something very successful ): smash hitVerb
(es)- Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable.
High and wet, passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.