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Entry 15 senses · 6 variants Webster, 1913

Hatch

/(hăch)/ · IPA /hæt͡ʃ/
01 v. t. To cross with lines in a peculiar manner in drawing and engraving. See Hatching.
imp. & p. p. Hatched; p. pr. & vb. n. Hatching
  1. 1.
    To cross with lines in a peculiar manner in drawing and engraving. See Hatching. See: Hatching
    “Shall win this sword, silvered and hatched.” — Chapman.
    “Those hatching strokes of the pencil.” — Dryden.
  2. 2.
    To cross; to spot; to stain; to steep.[Obs.]
    “His weapon hatched in blood.” — Beau. & Fl.
02 v. t. To produce, as young, from an egg or eggs by incubation, or by artificial heat; to produce young from (eggs); as, the young when hatched.
  1. 1.
    To produce, as young, from an egg or eggs by incubation, or by artificial heat; to produce young from (eggs); as, the young when hatched.
    “As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not.” — Jer. xvii. 11.
    “For the hens do not sit upon the eggs; but by keeping them in a certain equal heat they [the husbandmen] bring life into them and hatch them.” — Robynson (More's Utopia).
  2. 2.
    To contrive or plot; to form by meditation, and bring into being; to originate and produce; to concoct; as, to hatch mischief; to hatch heresy.
    “Fancies hatched In silken-folded idleness.” — Tennyson.
03 v. i. To produce young; -- said of eggs; to come forth from the egg; -- said of the young of birds, fishes, insects, etc.
  1. 1.
    To produce young; -- said of eggs; to come forth from the egg; -- said of the young of birds, fishes, insects, etc.
04 n. The act of hatching.
  1. 1.
    The act of hatching.
  2. 2.
    Development; disclosure; discovery.
  3. 3.
    The chickens produced at once or by one incubation; a brood.
05 n. A door with an opening over it; a half door, sometimes set with spikes on the upper edge.
  1. 1.
    A door with an opening over it; a half door, sometimes set with spikes on the upper edge.
    “In at the window, or else o'er the hatch.” — Shak.
  2. 2.
    A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.
  3. 3.
    A flood gate; a sluice gate.
  4. 4.
    A bedstead.[Scot.]
  5. 5.
    An opening in the deck of a vessel or floor of a warehouse which serves as a passageway or hoistway; a hatchway; also; a cover or door, or one of the covers used in closing such an opening.
  6. 6.
    An opening into, or in search of, a mine.(Mining)
Phrases & compounds
Booby hatch — See under Booby, Buttery, etc.
To batten down the hatches — to lay tarpaulins over them, and secure them with battens.
To be under hatches — to be confined below in a vessel; to be under arrest, or in slavery, distress, etc.
06 v. t. To close with a hatch or hatches.
  1. 1.
    To close with a hatch or hatches.
    “'T were not amiss to keep our door hatched.” — Shak.