scritch

English

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skɹɪt͡ʃ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪtʃ

Noun

scritch (plural scritches)

1. (obsolete) a screech
   • 1793, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel:

     Perhaps it is the owlet's scritch:
     For what can aid the mastiff bitch ?

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

Verb

scritch (third-person singular simple present scritches, present participle scritching, simple past and past participle scritched)

1. (obsolete) To screech.

Etymology 2

Variant of scratch.

Verb

scritch (third-person singular simple present scritches, present participle scritching, simple past and past participle scritched)

1. To make a light scratching sound, like a small animal burrowing.
2. To scratch so as to relieve an itch or irritation.
   • 2001, Miriam Moss, Scritch Scratch, →ISBN:

     One day a tiny insect, no bigger than a freckle, climbs into Miss Calypso's classroom. Nobody notices until Polly scritches, Joshua scratches and soon the whole class is scritching and scratching

   • 2004, The Hutchinson Book of Cat Tales, →ISBN, page 55:

     There once was a cat with a terrible itch. She had a flea in her fur which was making her twitch. She scratched herself here and she scritched herself there

3. To pet an animal or human in a scratching manner.
   • 2015 -, L. A. Kornetsky, Clawed: A Gin & Tonic Mystery, →ISBN, page 79:

     And they almost always gave good scritches, so they couldn't be bad people, could they? Did bad people scritch right?

Noun

scritch (plural scritches)

1. A light scratching sound, like a small animal burrowing.
2. The act of scratching an itch.
3. The act of petting an animal or human in a scratching manner.
   • 2010, Marguerite Floyd, The Parrot Reckonings, →ISBN:

     Sugar demands scritches alternating with sinking her beak into my fingers because I'm not doing it to suit her.

   • 2015, Maisey Yates, Part Time Cowboy, →ISBN:

     “It really does have to work out,” she said, setting Toby's carrier up on the kitchen table. “Because otherwise you'll be reduced to standing on a street corner and offering kitty head scritches for money. And none of us want to see you stoop that low."

   • 2015 -, L. A. Kornetsky, Clawed: A Gin & Tonic Mystery, →ISBN, page 79:

     And they almost always gave good scritches, so they couldn't be bad people, could they? Did bad people scritch right?