different between scratch vs abuse

English

Etymology

From Middle English scracchen, of uncertain origin. Probably a blend of Middle English scratten (“to scratch”) and cracchen (“to scratch”). More at scrat and cratch.

Pronunciation

• enPR: skr?ch, IPA^(key): /sk?æt?/
• Rhymes: -æt?

Verb

scratch (third-person singular simple present scratches, present participle scratching, simple past and past participle scratched)

1. To rub a surface with a sharp object, especially by a living creature to remove itching with nails, claws, etc.
   • 1733, Jonathan Swift, On Poetry, a Rhapsody

     Be mindful, when invention fails, / To scratch your head, and bite your nails.

2. To rub the skin with rough material causing a sensation of irritation; to cause itching.
   1. For a man, when kissing someone, to irritate the skin of that person with one's unshaven beard.
3. To mark a surface with a sharp object, thereby leaving a scratch (noun).

4. To cross out, strike out, strike through some text on a page.
   1. Hence, to remove, ignore or delete.

5. (music) To produce a distinctive sound on a turntable by moving a vinyl record back and forth while manipulating the crossfader (see also scratching).
6. (billiards) To commit a foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.

7. (billiards, dated, US) To score, not by skillful play but by some fortunate chance of the game.
8. To write or draw hastily or awkwardly; scrawl.
9. (transitive, intransitive) To dig or excavate with the claws.

10. To dig or scrape (a person's skin) with claws or fingernails in self-defense or with the intention to injure.

Synonyms

• scrattle

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

scratch (countable and uncountable, plural scratches)

1. A disruption, mark or shallow cut on a surface made by scratching.
   • 1677-1684, Joseph Moxon, Mechanick Exercises

     The coarse file […] makes deep scratches in the work.

   • 1709, Matthew Prior, Henry and Emma, line 503

     These nails with scratches deform my breast.
2. An act of scratching the skin to alleviate an itch or irritation.

3. (sports)
   1. A starting line (originally and simply, a line scratched in the ground), as in boxing.

      (Can we find and add a quotation of Grose to this entry?)

   2. A technical error of touching or surpassing the starting mark prior to the official start signal in the sporting events of long jump, discus, hammer throw, shot put, and similar. Originally the starting mark was a scratch on the ground but is now a board or precisely indicated mark.
   3. (cycling) The last riders to depart in a handicap race.
   4. (billiards) An aberration.
      1. A foul in pool, as where the cue ball is put into a pocket or jumps off the table.
      2. (archaic, US, slang) A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke.
   5. (horse racing) A horse withdrawn from a race prior to the start.

4. (slang) Money.
   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p. 153:

     He and Bruce cooked up a script together, and Bruce flew home to raise the scratch.

5. A feed, usually a mixture of a few common grains, given to chickens.
6. (in the plural) Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy.
   • 1887, James Law, The Farmer's Veterinary Adviser

     These are exemplified in the scurfy, scaly affections which appear in the bend of the knee (mallenders) and hock (sallenders) and on the lower parts of the limbs, by scratches, and by a scaly exfoliation […].

7. (now historical) A scratch wig.
   • 1775, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin 2001, 26 March:

     [H]e turned to him with a dejected Face, and said ‘ – pray Sir, – could you touch up This a little?’ taking hold of his frightful scratch.

8. (music) A genre of Virgin Islander music, better known as fungi.

Synonyms

• (Virgin Islander music): fungi, quelbe

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

scratch (not comparable)

1. For or consisting of preliminary or tentative, incomplete, etc. work.

2. Hastily assembled, arranged or constructed, from whatever materials are to hand, with little or no preparation
   • 1988, James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, Oxford 2004, p. 740:

     Bluecoats began crossing the James on June 14 and next day two corps approached Petersburg, which was held by Beauregard with a scratch force of 2,500.

3. (computing, from scratchpad) Relating to a data structure or recording medium attached to a machine for testing or temporary use.
4. (sports) (of a player) Of a standard high enough to play without a handicap, i.e. to compete without the benefit of a variation in scoring based on ability.

Derived terms

• scratch sheet

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “scratch”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• The Jargon File - Scratch

French

Etymology

From English scratch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sk?at?/

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. Velcro

Synonyms

• velcro

Italian

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (invariable)

1. (music) scratch

Spanish

Etymology

From English scratch.

Noun

scratch m (plural scratchs)

1. (music) scratch

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English abusen, then from either Old French abus (“improper use”), or from Latin ab?sus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of ab?tor (“make improper use of, consume, abuse”), from ab (“away”) + ?tor (“to use”). Equivalent to ab- +? use.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bju?s/
• (General American) enPR: ?byo?os', IPA^(key): /??bjus/
• Hyphenation: ab?use

Noun

abuse (countable and uncountable, plural abuses)

1. Improper treatment or usage; application to a wrong or bad purpose; an unjust, corrupt or wrongful practice or custom. [from around 1350 to 1470]

   Synonym: misuse

2. Misuse; improper use; perversion. [from mid 16^th c.]
   • 1788, Federalist, James Madison, Number 63

     Liberty may be endangered by the abuses of liberty, as well as by the abuses of power.
3. (obsolete) A delusion; an imposture; misrepresentation; deception. [from mid 16^th c. – mid 17^th c.]
4. Coarse, insulting speech; abusive language; language that unjustly or angrily vilifies. [from mid 16^th c.]
   • 1950 February 11, Alhaji Na-Alhaji in Gaskiya Fa Ti Kwabo:

     But he and all the southerners who indulge in this abuse in the newspapers should realize that this will not enable us to find a solution to our problem but will merely aggravate it.

   Synonyms: invective, contumely, reproach, scurrility, insult, opprobrium

5. (now rare) Catachresis. [from late 16^th c.]

   Synonym: abusio

6. Physical maltreatment; injury; cruel treatment. [from late 16^th c.]
7. Violation; defilement; rape; forcing of undesired sexual activity by one person on another, often on a repeated basis. [from late 16^th c.]

Usage notes

• (misuse, perversion): Typically followed by the word of.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English abusen, from Middle French abuser, from Latin ab?sus (“misused, using up”), perfect active participle of ab?tor (“to use up, misuse, consume”), from ab (“from, away from”) + ?tor (“to use”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??bju?z/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??bjuz/, enPR: ?byo?oz'
• Hyphenation: abuse

Verb

abuse (third-person singular simple present abuses, present participle abusing, simple past and past participle abused)

1. (transitive) To put to a wrong use; to misapply; to use improperly; to misuse; to use for a wrong purpose or end; to pervert [from around 1350 to 1470.]
2. (transitive) To injure; to maltreat; to hurt; to treat with cruelty, especially repeatedly. [from mid 16^th c.]

   Synonyms: maltreat, injure
3. (transitive) To attack with coarse language; to insult; to revile; malign; to speak in an offensive manner to or about someone; to disparage. [from early 17^th c.]

   Synonyms: revile, reproach, vilify, vituperate; see also Thesaurus:offend

   • 1991, Yakubu Yahaya, quoted in: 2001, Toyin Falola, Violence in Nigeria: The Crisis of Religious Politics and Secular Ideologies, p. 199:

     So we were angered by this and we could not tolerate this one because prophet Mohammed has been abused so many times in this country. Awolowo abused him sometimes ago saying that he was more successful and popular that^[sic] Mohammed and Jesus.
4. (transitive) To imbibe a drug for a purpose other than it was intended; to intentionally take more of a drug than was prescribed for recreational reasons; to take illegal drugs habitually. [from mid 20^th c.]
5. (transitive, archaic) To violate; defile; to rape. [from around 1350 to 1470]

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

6. (transitive, obsolete) Misrepresent; adulterate. [from around 1350 to 1470 – mid 18^th c.]
7. (transitive, obsolete) To deceive; to trick; to impose on; misuse the confidence of. [from late 15^th c. – early 19^th c.]
   • 1651-2, Jeremy Taylor, "Sermon VI, The House of Feasting; or, The Epicures Measures", in The works of Jeremy Taylor, Volume 1, page 283 (1831), edited by Thomas Smart Hughes

     When Cyrus had espied Astyages and his fellows coming drunk from a banquet loaden with variety of follies and filthiness, their legs failing them, their eyes red and staring, cozened with a moist cloud and abused by a double object

8. (transitive, obsolete, Scotland) Disuse. [from late 15^th century – mid 16^th c.]

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002) , “abuse”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, ?ISBN, page 10

Anagrams

• aubes, beaus

French

Verb

abuse

1. first-person singular present indicative of abuser
2. third-person singular present indicative of abuser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of abuser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of abuser
5. second-person singular imperative of abuser

Anagrams

• aubes

Latin

Participle

ab?se

1. vocative masculine singular of ab?sus

Portuguese

Verb

abuse

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of abusar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of abusar
3. first-person singular imperative of abusar
4. third-person singular imperative of abusar

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a?buse/, [a???u.se]

Verb

abuse

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of abusar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of abusar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of abusar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of abusar.