scatch

English

Etymology

From French escache, from Italian scaccia.

Noun

scatch (plural scatches)

1. (obsolete) A kind of bit for the bridle of a horse.
   • 1684, Thomas de Grey, The Compleat Horse-Man, and Expert Ferrier‎^[1], 5th edition, page 236:

     and thus, having brought your horse to a Post set up for that purpose, and one to assist you with a Rein fastened to the rings of a half Cannon Bit or a Scatch, you having mounted his back, let your assistant hold him to the post with his head facing it,

2. (obsolete, UK, dialect) A stilt.

References

• “scatch”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.