HATCH

hatch

Noun

  1. A horizontal door in a floor or ceiling.
  2. A trapdoor.
  3. An opening in a wall at window height for the purpose of serving food or other items. A pass through.
    The cook passed the dishes through the serving hatch.
  4. A small door in large mechanical structures and vehicles such as aircraft and spacecraft often provided for access for maintenance.
  5. A opening through the deck of a ship or submarine.
  6. A gullet.
  7. A frame or weir in a river, for catching fish.
  8. A floodgate; a sluice gate.
  9. A bedstead.
  10. An opening into, or in search of, a mine.

Noun (etymology 2)

  1. The act of hatching.
  2. Development; disclosure; discovery.
  3. A group of birds that emerged from eggs at a specified time.
    These pullets are from an April hatch.
  4. The phenomenon, lasting 1-2 days, of large clouds of mayflies appearing in one location to mate, having reached maturity.
  5. A birth, the birth records (in the newspaper) — compare the phrase "hatched, matched, and dispatched."

Verb

  1. To close with a hatch or hatches.

Verb (etymology 2)

  1. (of young animals) To emerge from an egg.
  2. (of eggs) To break open when a young animal emerges from it.
  3. To incubate eggs; to cause to hatch.
  4. To devise.
    to hatch a plan or a plot; to hatch mischief or heresy

Verb (etymology 3)

  1. To shade an area of (a drawing, diagram, etc.) with fine parallel lines, or with lines which cross each other (cross-hatch).
  2. To cross; to spot; to stain; to steep.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: hatch
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