/bɒt͡ʃ/, /bɑt͡ʃ/
OriginFrom Middle English bocchen (“to mend”), of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old English bōtettan (“to improve; cure; remedy; repair”), related to boot, or from Middle Dutch botsen, butsen, boetsen (“to repair; patch”), related to beat. Doublet of bodge.
- transitiveTo perform (a task) in an incompetent or unacceptable manner; to make a mess of something.
“A botched haircut seems to take forever to grow out.”
“And other diuels that ſuggest by treaſons, / Do botch and bungle vp damnation, / VVith patches, colours, and vvith formes being fetcht / From gliſt'ring ſemblances of piety: […]”
- transitiveTo do (something) without care or skill, or clumsily.
- transitiveTo mend or repair (something) clumsily.
- transitiveAn action, job, or task that has been performed very badly; a ruined, defective, or clumsy piece of work.
“That I require a cleareneſſe; and with him; / To leaue no Rubs nor Botches in the Worke:”
- transitiveA patch put on, or a part of a garment patched or mended in a clumsy manner.
- transitiveA mistake that is very stupid or embarrassing.
- transitiveA messy, disorderly or confusing combination; a conglomeration; hodgepodge.
- archaic, transitiveOne who makes a mess of something.
“If it was the last word I ever spoke, Puddock, you're a good natured—he 's a gentleman, sir—and it was all my own fault; he warned me, he did, again' swallyin' a dhrop of it—remember what I'm saying, ”
- obsolete, transitiveA tumour or other malignant swelling.
“Botches and blaines muſt all his fleſh imboſs,”
- transitiveA case or outbreak of boils or sores.
“The Lord wil smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scabbe, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not bee healed.”
Formsbotches(present, singular, third-person) · botching(participle, present) · botched(participle, past) · botched(past) · botches(plural)