Scratch vs Tear - What's the difference?
scratch | tear |
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.
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*(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 rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.
* 1856 : (Gustave Flaubert), (Madame Bovary), Part III Chapter XI, translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling
To injure as if by pulling apart.
To cause to lose some kind of unity or coherence.
*
, title= To make (an opening) with force or energy.
To remove by tearing.
To demolish
To become torn, especially accidentally.
To move or act with great speed, energy, or violence.
To smash or enter something with great force.
A hole or break caused by tearing.
A drop of clear, salty liquid produced from the eyes by crying or irritation.
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=6 Something in the form of a transparent drop of fluid matter; also, a solid, transparent, tear-shaped drop, as of some balsams or resins.
* Dryden
That which causes or accompanies tears; a lament; a dirge.
* Milton
As verbs the difference between scratch and tear
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 tear is to rend (a solid material) by holding or restraining in two places and pulling apart, whether intentionally or not; to destroy or separate.As nouns the difference between scratch and tear
is that scratch is a disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching while tear is a hole or break caused by tearing.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
tear
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .Verb
- He suffered, poor man, at seeing her so badly dressed, with laceless boots, and the arm-holes of her pinafore torn down to the hips; for the charwoman took no care of her.
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Then there came a reg'lar terror of a sou'wester same as you don't get one summer in a thousand, and blowed the shanty flat and ripped about half of the weir poles out of the sand. We spent consider'ble money getting 'em reset, and then a swordfish got into the pound and tore the nets all to slathers, right in the middle of the squiteague season.}}
Synonyms
* (break) rend, rip * (remove by tearing) rip out, tear off, tear outNoun
(en noun)- A small tear is easy to mend, if it is on the seam.
Derived terms
* wear and tearDerived terms
* tearsheetEtymology 2
From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) .Noun
(wikipedia tear) (en noun)citation, passage=‘[…] I remember a lady coming to inspect St. Mary's Home where I was brought up and seeing us all in our lovely Elizabethan uniforms we were so proud of, and bursting into tears all over us because “it was wicked to dress us like charity children”. […]’.}}
- Let Araby extol her happy coast, / Her fragrant flowers, her trees with precious tears .
- some melodious tear