hatch 1
(hăch)n.1. a. An opening, as in the deck of a ship, in the roof or floor of a building, or in an aircraft.
b. The cover for such an opening.
c. A hatchway.
2. A door that opens upward on the rear of an automobile; a hatchback.
3. A floodgate.
Idiom: down the hatch Slang Drink up. Often used as a toast.
[Middle English, small door, from Old English hæc, hæcc.]
hatch 2
(hăch)v. hatched, hatch·ing, hatch·es
v.intr.1. To emerge from an egg or other structure that surrounds and protects an embryo.
2. To emerge from a cocoon or chrysalis.
3. To emerge from the water when transforming from an aquatic larval or pupal form to a winged form, as a mayfly or caddisfly.
v.tr.1. To produce (young) from an egg or eggs.
2. To cause (an egg or eggs) to produce young.
3. To devise or originate, especially in secret: hatch an assassination plot.
n.1. a. The act or an instance of hatching from an egg or similar structure.
b. The act or an instance of emerging from a cocoon or chrysalis.
c. The act or an instance of emerging from the water when transforming from an aquatic larval or pupal form to a winged form.
2. a. A group of young organisms, especially birds, that hatch at one time; a brood.
b. A group of adult insects that emerge at one time.
c. A group of winged insects, as mayflies or caddisflies, that emerge at one time from a body of water.
[Middle English hacchen, from Old English *hæccan.]
hatch′er n.
hatch 3
(hăch)tr.v. hatched,
hatch·ing,
hatch·es To shade by drawing or etching fine parallel or crossed lines on.
n. A fine line used in hatching.
[Middle English hachen, to engrave, carve, from Old French hacher, hachier, to crosshatch, cut up; see hash1.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.