notchn.

Brit.

/nɒtʃ/, U.S.

/nɑtʃ/

Forms: 1500s notche, 1500s– notch, 1600s–1700s noch, 1700s (1900s rare) knotch.

Origin: Apparently a borrowing from French. Etymons: French noche, osche, oche.

Etymology: Apparently < Anglo-Norman noche (early 14th cent.), variant of Anglo-Norman and Middle French osche notch, hole in an object (1170 in Old French), oche incised mark used to keep a record (13th cent.; French hoche nick, small notch; further etymology uncertain and disputed: see below), with attraction of n from the indefinite article in French (compare nombril n.).Anglo-Norman and Middle French osche , oche is cognate with post-classical Latin osca (858 in a source from Navarre, Aragon), Old Occitan osca (c1228), Catalan osca (14th cent.). Several possibilities have been suggested for the further etymology of the Romance word, including a Gaulish word cognate with Breton ask notch, nick, and a pre-Indo-European substratal survival related to Basque ozka notch (if this is not itself a loan from Romance). Although this word corresponds closely in form and meaning to both nick n.¹ and nock n.¹, no etymological relationship has been established between them. Examples of oche v. occur in Middle English in the alliterative Morte Arthure (see quots. s.v.), but a corresponding noun has apparently not been recorded in English. The following perhaps puns on sense 4a, although the literal sense is unclear:a1627 T. Middleton No Wit (1657) i. 19 The Widow's Notch shall lie open to you.

a. A groove, incision, or indentation (typically V-shaped in cross-section) in an edge, or across or through a surface.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > [noun] > making or becoming notched > a notch

nick?a1450

gap1530

notch1555

natch1570

notching1640

nitch1726

snick1775

nicking1844

jog1845

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > pruning or lopping > cut made in pruning

lance1669

fall1893

notch1916

1555 R. Eden tr. V. Biringucci Pyrotechnia in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 335^v Tables made eyther of the tymber of plane trees, of elme, or whyte nuttes,..hauing theyr playnes made ful of hackes, & notches, with the helpe of the sawe or such other instrumentes of iren.

?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xx. sig. F ij ^v Make a fyne notche, or marke vpon that subtending staffe.

1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. vi. f. 107^v/2, in R. Holinshed Chron. I The one ende set on a peece of woodde, which goeth crosse ouer ye two rabets, & the other ende being let into the blocke, holding the Axe, with a notche made into the same after the maner of a Sampsons post.

1597 W. Barlow Navigator's Supply sig. D3^v Prepare a little Notche or slit of equall deapth in the two sights of the sight-Ruler.

1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia ii. 31 To make the noch of his arrow he hath the tooth of a Beaver, set in a sticke, wherewith he grateth it by degrees.

1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. ix. 60 A little wheel, with some notches in it, equivalent to teeth.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World iii. 41 The other end..is jagged with notches like a Harpoon.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 96 With much chopping..hard Wood, they were all full of Notches and dull.

1774 M. Mackenzie Treat. Maritim Surv. 45 A crooked Bit of Brass, with a Notch in it.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 306 Each circle..is divided into eleven parts, and at each a rectangular notch is cut.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1276 Every year after the horn is protruded from the head, with a notch on it.

1882 R. Jefferies Bevis I. x. 172 He could hardly cut the hard dried bark of the ash... He made a spiral notch round it.

1916 tr. K. Koopmann in L. H. Bailey Pruning-man. v. 127 Notches are made on twigs of one year's growth or more, to influence a particular bud in various ways.

1945 C. E. Balleisen Princ. Firearms ix. 91 The earliest rear sights consisted of a blade in which was a notch.

1991 APWA Reporter Oct. 17/2 (advt.) Lid lifter fits round and rectangular lids..with center holes, off-center holes or side notches.

2001 RCM & E (Radio Control Models & Electronics) Mar. 77/3 Mark the position of all the formers and undercarriage plates onto the fuselage sides, and cut the notches that leg B will fit into.

†b. Archery. = nock n.¹ 1a. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > archer's weapons > [noun] > bow > end of

nocka1398

horn1611

notch1621

recurve1961

1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. iv. 338 This present Sultan makes notches for bowes.

1868 W. Morris Earthly Paradise 450 The evil thing of brass and wood Up to his ear the notches drew.

c. Dressmaking and Tailoring. An indentation marked on a pattern or cut into the edge of a piece of material to enable accurate matching of a seam.In quot. a1644 figurative.

ΚΠ

a1644 F. Quarles Shepheards Oracles (1646) viii We cut out doctrines, and from notch to notch, We fit our holy Stuffe.

1917 D. F. Canfield Understood Betsy vii. 174 Stashie..did the first basting, putting the notches together carefully, while they read the instructions aloud.

1967 Simplicity 7391 (Simplicity Pattern Co. Inc.) Stitch along seam line and ¼″ inside seam line between notches.

1992 Sew News Dec. 45/2 Pin the first band section to the bodice, matching the notches.

d. Each of a series of holes in the end of a belt or strap into which the pin of a buckle may be inserted. Also in figurative context.

ΚΠ

1846 J. S. Holt Jrnl. Dec. in J. F. H. Claiborne Life & Corr. J. A. Quitman (1860) I. x. 277 The men..let out their belts a notch or two.

1897 Outing 30 266/2 When you have girded yourself up to the last notch, so to speak.

1954 R. Dahl Someone like You 244 The muzzle-strap to be tightened an extra four notches.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 23 Oct. 20/2 His pearl snap-button shirt is open, his belt loosened a notch, his head propped up with a bulky, weathered arm.

1992 L. Gordon Shared Lives vi. 116 Flora tried out a new diet and pulled her wide belt one notch tighter.

e. Each of a graduated series of indentations, marks, or points on the dial of an instrument or control.

ΚΠ

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1582/1 The dial is figured from 0 to 16, the index being moved one notch for every chain run.

1917 E. R. Burroughs Princess of Mars xxvii. 321 With one hand on the steering wheel and the other pushing the speed lever to its last notch I split the thin air..with the speed of a meteor.

1970 ‘E. McGirr’ Death pays Wages vii. 146 He turned up the central heating a notch.

1986 Punch 18 June 37/1 Men in the outposts of a sweltering Empire would turn up the fan a notch or two.

f. A slit in the ground made to take the roots of a seedling tree.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > planting trees or afforestation > slit or trench for planting

scrobe1686

notch1891

1891 W. Schlich Man. Forestry II. ii. 126 An enlarged notch may be produced by swaying it [sc. the notching spade] to and fro.

1934 Forestry 8 21 A deep vertical notch..with adequate firming, is the best method of planting.

1970 H. L. Edlin Collins Guide to Tree Planting & Cultivation vii. 107 In its simplest form, the notch is just a slit cut into the ground, into which the tree's roots are inserted.

a. A nick (usually one of a number of nicks) made on a stick, etc., as a means of keeping a record, score, or total. Also figurative.†out of all scotch and notch: see scotch n.¹ Phrases.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > enumeration, reckoning, or calculation > [noun] > mark made to keep score or record

nick?a1450

notch1565

chalk1674

tally1951

society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > tally > notch cut in

scorec1460

notch1565

round O1625

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Crena, a notche in a skore.

1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Vne oche, vn cren, or crenne, a notch in a skore.

1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. F The Exposer has..payed him exactly, though not in as good Billet, yet in as many Notches.

a1689 A. Behn Widdow Ranter (1690) iii. i. 27 Your Warrants are like a Brewers Tally a Notch on a Stick.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 74 Upon the Sides of this square Post I cut every Day a Notch with my Knife.

1785 W. Cowper Tirocinium in Task 560 Th' indented stick, that loses day by day Notch after notch .

1798 T. Dibdin Mouth of Nile iii. 23 We've made another notch in the Calendar of Victory.

1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 41 (note) It is customary amongst the Missouri Indians to register every exploit in war, by making a notch for each on the handle of their tomahawks.

1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians I. xxi. 147 The notches he had recorded for the snows (or years) of his life.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxv. 155 He felt sure that there was a notch made against him, and that somehow or other he was intended to pay.

1902 Wyoming Derrick 9 Oct. 1/3 As a scout, the hunter of train robbers and outlaws and the regulator of cattle thieves, has to put a good many notches in his gun.

1958 T. H. White Once & Future King ii. vii. 259 He showed the hole where the lead was poured in, and the nails through the end, and the notches near the handle which stood for ancient scalps.

1986 R. Brandon Left, Right & Centre xxxii. 184 ‘Did you know that poor Art Brownson died? Quite suddenly, I believe.’ ‘Another notch in your gun?’

b. In extended use: a run in cricket. Now historical.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > running > run

notch1730

run1752

1730 London Evening-post 18 Aug. The London Side won by on Notch.

1752 Game at Cricket in New Universal Mag. Nov. 581/2 If in running a notch, the wicket is struck down by a throw..it's out.

1812 Sporting Mag. 40 246 A match..which was won by Burley, ninety-seven notches against sixty-five.

1835 W. Howitt in Friendship Miss Mitford (1882) I. xii. 293 The sudden shout..of the crowd when the last decisive notch was gained.

1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 137 1,163 notches have been placed to his credit by the scorers.

1912 Chambers's Jrnl. July 449/2 Three of the University batsmen fell in rapid succession without a single ‘notch’ to their credit.

1986 Club Cricketer May 14/2 London outplayed Surrey, winning the 20 guineas stake-money by six notches.

a. An opening; a break or breach.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun]

holec725

thirla900

eyeOE

opena1200

opening?c1225

overturec1400

overta1425

wideness?c1425

howe1487

hiatus1563

vent1594

apertion1599

ferme1612

notch1615

sluice1648

gape1658

aperture1661

want1664

door1665

hiulcitya1681

to pass through the eye of a needle (also a needle's eye)1720

vista1727

light1776

ope1832

lacuna1872

doughnut hole1886

1615 T. Roe Jrnl. 17 Aug. (1899) I. 27 The poynte bearing W.S.W...is a downeright sharpe rocke with two Notches making a Baye, lyeing in W.S.W.

1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont ii. 25 The direction of this passage is oblique, and full of stops or notches.

1804 C. B. Brown tr. C. F. de Volney View Soil & Climate U.S.A. 66 The gaps, whose sides..exhibit those notches occasioned by the first overflowings of the lake.

1886 T. Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge I. xi. 130 The Amphitheatre was a huge circular enclosure, with a notch at opposite extremities of its diameter north and south.

1965 G. J. Jones Fund. Workshop Technol. i. 5 The slag is allowed to run off through the slag notch for disposal and then the furnace is tapped.

1971 P. Berton Last Spike v. i. 187 The trains were destined to travel on the very lip of the precipice into which a kind of notch had been blasted, the roof consisting of solid rock.

b. Chiefly North American. A narrow opening or defile through mountains; a deep narrow pass.Common in place names in parts of New England, U.S.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > valley > [noun] > mountain pass

gowl1638

notch1649

ghat1698

neck1707

slap1715

narrow1768

bealach1794

poort1796

kotal1880

1649 C. Wilde Voy. to Madras (Sloane 3231) f. 31^v Ye great notch or opening of ye hill.

1718 S. Sewall Diary 15 Sept. (1973) II. 902 About ½ way between the Notch of the Mountain and Hartford.

1760 in New-Eng. Historical & Geneal. Reg. (1882) XXXVI. 32 On arriving on the Lake, I took the bearing of a Notch or Break in the Mountains.

1812 J. Melish Trav. in U.S.A. I. 98 There is a singular curiosity in the state [of New Hampshire] called the Notch, which is a pass through the mountains.

1838 N. Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 197 This Notch is otherwise called the Bellowspipe, being a long and narrow valley, with a steep wall on either side.

1890 J. H. Ward White Mts. 45 The Crawford Notch is so much in the heart of the mountains that it offers unusual facilities for seeing them.

1906 W. Churchill Coniston 2 Coniston Mountain, with its notch road that winds over the saddle behind the withers of it.

1930 J. Beames Army without Banners 140 By the first he discovered a short cut through a notch between two hills that eliminated seven miles of the crooked and treacherous Moose River.

1979 United States 1980–81 661 The ragged, hairpin road through the notch is impassable during winter.

c. An opening extending above the water level in a weir or similar structure placed across a river or stream.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > water > lake > pool > [noun] > artificially confined water > contrivance for impounding water > weir > opening in

notch1770

1770 J. Smeaton Reports (1812) iii. 53 The mill, in case it is not a time of short water, is to have its water passing the notch shortened.

1790 T. Wright Advantages & Method Watering Meadows (ed. 2) 20 Keep it [sc. the water] high enough to flow through the notches, (or what we improperly call sluices).

a1830 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) III. 238/1 Theoretically the quantity discharged through a rectangular notch, which reaches to the surface, is two-thirds of what would issue through an equal orifice placed at the whole depth below the level of the fluid.

1907 W. C. Unwin Treat. Hydraulics v. 96 Notches for measuring purposes are weirs fitted with a plate in which an open notch is formed through which the water passes.

1914 W. M. Wallace Hydraulics xii. 188 Where it is possible to provide an artificial section for the stream the gauge notch is used, of which there are three standard forms, viz., (1) rectangular, (2) circular, (3) triangular.

1974 J. A. Fox Introd. Engin. Fluid Mech. iii. 99 In the case of orifices and rectangular notches the coefficient of discharge varies with both the Reynolds number and the value of l/h.

1995 N. Hudson Soil Conservation (ed. 3) viii. 173 The shape of the notch gives the desirable combination of sensitivity at low flows and large capacity at high flows.

4. In various figurative uses.

a. coarse slang. The female genitals.Recorded earliest in notchweed n. at Compounds 2.In quot. c1720 punning on sense 2a; perhaps cf. also quot. a1627 in etymological note above.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun]

cuntc1230

quivera1382

chosec1386

privy chosea1387

quoniamc1405

naturec1470

shell1497

box1541

water gate1541

mouth1568

quiver case1568

water gap1586

cunnya1593

medlar1597

mark1598

buggle-boo1600

malkin1602

lap1607

skin coat1611

quim1613

nest1614

watermilla1626

bum1655

merkin1656

twat1656

notch1659

commodity1660

modicum1660

crinkum-crankum1670

honeypot1673

honour1688

muff1699

pussy1699

puss1707

fud1771

jock1790

cock?1833

fanny?1835

vaginac1890

rug1893

money-maker1896

Berkeley1899

Berkeley Hunt1899

twitchet1899

mingea1903

snatch1904

beaver1927

coozie1934

Sir Berkeley1937

pocketbook1942

pranny1949

zatch1950

cooch1955

bearded clam1962

noonie1966

chuff1967

coozea1968

carpet1981

pum-pum1983

front bum1985

coochie1986

punani1987

front bottom1991

va-jay-jay2000

1659 W. Coles Adam in Eden 577 It is called..in English Stinking Arach, and Notchweed.

1660 ‘Mercurius Philalethes’ Select City Quaeries II. 12 Whether..the Barber buss'd the Wenches Rump out of love to her Notch, or respect of saving charges in the Law.

c1720 Turnep Ground in J. S. Farmer National Ballad & Song (1897) I. 224 We'll scow'r off all their Notches.

1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) Notch, the private parts of a woman.

1873 Romance of Lust II. 11 He placed Lizzie on the top of me, and guided my prick himself into her delicious tight little notch.

1994 Rescue in rec.arts.erotica (Usenet newsgroup) 10 Oct. He pictured himself coming..in her sweet wet notch.

b. A point on a scale; a step, degree, or gradation. Cf. nick n.¹ 12c.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun] > a stage in a process or development

degreec1230

greea1340

steadc1370

pointc1475

nick1649

stadium1669

notch1670

grade1796

step1811

milestone1820

way station1863

1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) Pref. sig. āiiij^v Traueling takes my yong nobleman four notches lower, in his self-conceit and pride.

1691 J. Dunton Voy. round World III. x. 368 We could not perceive that they were guilty of much Learning; of which the lowest degree is several notches above their most exalted capacity.

c1817 J. Hogg Tales & Sketches II. 242 To bring them forward to the same notch of time.

1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xxii. 275 Ah, baily, she's a notch above you, and you must own it.

1958 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 21 Sept. 4/9 Each of the Transvaal's 13,000 teachers will have their pay raised by at least one notch on October 1.

1979 J. Raban Arabia through Looking Glass vi. 198 In the hierarchy of labour they formed an upper working class of semi-skilled men—a clear notch or two above the Baluchis.

2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 2 Jan. a1/3 The confrontation was dialed down a notch after Pakistan moved to arrest leaders of militant groups.

c. North American colloquial and regional. to the notch and variants: to the right standard, to perfection, exactly. Cf. nick n.¹ 3.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > be exact [phrase]

to hit the nail upon (or on) the headc1450

to the notch1790

1790 R. Tyler Contrast v. i. 69 There the old man was even with her; he was up to the notch.

1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. 349 We..tumbled over, no matter how often; but we hit the ships to a notch.

1925 R. L. Bullard Personalities & Reminisc. War ii. 13 He could be very generous toward each man's peculiarities or failings provided that man was devoted and up to the notch in his own specialty.

1965–70 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) 827/2 To the last notch... Right down to the notch.

†5. An act of notching or cutting. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > [noun] > making or becoming notched

nicking1551

notching1599

gappinga1684

notch1844

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 506 Small holes made in the ground with three or four notches of the spade.

1890 J. Kerr Hist. Curling iv. 161 The hack or notch in the ice,..is a later style of foothold.

6. Economics. A point or band on an income or other scale; spec. one at which the presence of an upper (or lower) limit to eligibility for a financial benefit or tax advantage results in relative disadvantage for those just below (or above) the limit, or in between two such limits; (also) the situation brought about by this; spec. = poverty trap n. at poverty n. Compounds. See also Compounds 3, and notch baby n., notch provision n. at Compounds 2.Sometimes used spec. with reference to U.S. citizens born between 1917 and 1921, who were believed by some to have received less than their full entitlement of social security benefits.

ΚΠ

1937 Washington Evening Star 27 Dec. 1/8 Firms with medium-sized incomes, ranging up from $25,000, would be placed in what subcommitteemen termed a ‘notch’.

1947 Sun (Baltimore) 15 May 2/8 The notch, instead of $67, is $38.50, and it stops at $265.52.

1973 Jrnl. Human Resources 8 431 The result has been variously called a ‘poverty trap’ or a ‘poverty surtax’, but it is a classic example of an ‘income notch’.

1995 Q. Rev. Econ. 110 912 She loses her AFDC eligibility, and therefore her Medicaid benefits... This discontinuous drop in benefits has been called the ‘Medicaid notch’.

Compounds

C1. Parasynthetic.

† notch-flowered adj. Obsolete

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > flower or flowering plant > [adjective] > having flowers or blossom > of specific size, form, or arrangement

chaliceda1616

umbelliferous1668

umbellated1731

pyramidal1777

umbellate1785

starry-eyed1793

umbellal1836

hoop-petticoated1837

grandiflora1839

belleda1849

mop-headed1862

geminiflorous1866

notch-flowered1885

multiflora1934

1885 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. V. i Notch-flowered,..having the flowers notched at the margin.

notch-leaved adj.

ΚΠ

1703 Philos. Trans. 1702–3 (Royal Soc.) 23 1452 I generally observe the Notch-Leaved Ferns to be margine pulverulento.

1822 S. Clarke Hortus Anglicus II. 468 Alnus Serrulata Notch-leaved Alder.

1917 A. Teixeira de Mattos tr. J. H. Fabre Life of Grasshopper xx. 438 Euphorbia serrata, the narrow notch-leaved spurge.

notch-tailed adj.

ΚΠ

1980 R. Howard & A. Moore Compl. Checklist Birds of World 638/2 Temnurus temnurus (Notch-tailed Tree Pie).

C2.

notch baby n. U.S. a person whose date of birth falls between two dates delimiting a notch (sense 6), and who is thus ineligible for some benefit.

ΚΠ

1983 Houston Post 5 Sept. f3/2 Dear Abby..If you are drawing Social Security and were born in 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920 or 1921 (called ‘the notch years’), you are being unjustly penalized... Write your congressman requesting that..a new bill be introduced to correct this unfair situation.—Notch-year Baby.]

1984 Congress. Rec. 14 Sept. 25515/2 For notch babies..who waited until 65 to retire, the drop could be as great as 10 percent in one year.

2001 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times (Nexis) 13 Dec. c1 You're not a notch baby. For more than 20 years now, many older Americans born between 1917 and 1921 have expressed concern that they were denied the benefits they deserved.

notchback n. and adj. (a) n. a car whose rear upper bodywork extends approximately horizontally from the bottom of the rear window so as to make a distinct angle with it (cf. fastback n. 2); (b) adj. (attributive) designating (a car having) such rear bodywork; also in extended use.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > body or bodywork > rear part > rear part arranged to carry luggage > horizontally projecting boot

notchback1965

1959 Motor 28 Oct. 447/2 The Special Continental saloon..was notable for the abandonment of the sloping tail in favour of a notched back treatment.]

1965 J. Lawlor How to talk Car 76 Notch-back, body design with a separate distinct rear deck. The term is used to distinguish conventional styling from fast-back design.

1971 Flying (N.Y.) Apr. 40/1 In 1962, the Cessna 182 got the Omni-Vision treatment, with a notchback after fuselage and auto-style rear window.

1989 Motor Trend Mar. 18/1 Outside, the Person's longer, lower notchback styling is distinguished by pillarless side windows.

1997 Car Mar. 46 The Americans love notchbacks, but they don't like hatchbacks.

notch bar test n. Materials Science = notched-bar test n. at notched adj. Compounds.

ΚΠ

1957 Financial Times Ann. Rev. Brit. Industry 61/4 To predict the service behaviour of the steel..the information derived from small notch bar tests is being amplified.

1976 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 349 543 The change in transition temperature upon embrittling differs only some 10% between the slow bend notch bar and Charpy impact tests.

† notch-block n. Nautical Obsolete = snatch-block n.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > tackle or purchase > [noun] > system of) pulley(s) > specific forms of block

snap-block1626

tail-block1769

notch-block1788

strap-bound-block1794

monkey1834

strap-block1875

butterfly block1882

1788 Trans. Soc. Arts 6 207 A rope passing over the shieve of a notch block.

1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 38 Snatch-Blocks (or Notch-Blocks) which are single blocks with a notch cut in one cheek, to receive the bight of a rope.

notch-board n. (a) Building a board grooved to receive the ends of the steps in a staircase; †(b) a notched board placed in a channel to impede the flow of water (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > stairs > [noun] > stringers

stair-tree1374

sister1518

rail1679

string1711

carriage1758

rough string1819

notch-board1823

bridgeboard1842

stringer1883

the world > the earth > water > lake > pool > [noun] > artificially confined water > contrivance for impounding water > board with notches

notch-board1823

1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 189 A notch-board is a board into which the ends of the steps are let.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1024 Notch-boards injure the edges of feeders, besides causing deep holes to be scooped beyond them by the fall of water.

1855 Sci. Amer. 15 Sept. 403/1 Two-thirds of the quantity must be taken when water flows over a notch board.

1871 L. Colange Zell's Pop. Encycl. I. 365/3 Bridge-board, a board on which the ends of the steps of wooden stairs are fastened. Sometimes called notch-board.

notch-brittle adj. susceptible to fracture at a notch when a sudden load is applied.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [adjective] > relating to change of form > having high notch sensitivity

notch-sensitive1946

notch-brittle1958

1958 A. D. Merriman Dict. Metall. 212/1 In notch brittle materials the notch or crack is propagated with great rapidity under sudden loading conditions.

1981 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 299 13 The steel plate and weld metal were notch brittle at −10°C.

notch brittleness n. Materials Science susceptibility to fracture at a notch when a sudden load is applied; the degree of this.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > specific susceptibility to fracture

notch effect1925

notch brittleness1929

1929 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 120 514 The authors first discuss two diagrams representing the ratios of the notch-brittleness obtained by means of Mesnager test-pieces and large Charpy test-pieces for a large number of steels.

1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. v. 272 To determine the notch brittleness (or notch toughness), impact tests are performed on specimens prepared with a notch of precise width, depth and shape.

notch-eared bat n. a small bat of southern Europe, North Africa, and south-west Asia, Myotis emarginatus (family Vespertilionidae), distinguished by a deep notch in the hind edge of the ear; also called Geoffroy's bat.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Chiroptera or bat > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous type of

blude-black1647

music-stamper1713

red bat1775

Geoffroy's bat1829

reddish-grey bat1837

notch-eared bat1840

pachyote1865

notched-eared bat1871

valve-tailed bat1871

Negro-bat1885

1840 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 74 Notch-eared Bat (V. emarginatus).—The fur reddish-grey above, ash-coloured beneath.

1991 Behavioral Ecol. & Sociobiol. 28 255 (title) Echolocation in the notch-eared bat, Myotis emarginatus.

notch effect n. Materials Science the increase in the susceptibility of a specimen to fracture caused by the presence of a notch.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > specific susceptibility to fracture

notch effect1925

notch brittleness1929

1925 M. A. Grossmann tr. E. Heyn Physical Metallogr. v. 299 With decreasing b, hence with increasing notch effect, the values for q and ε_e decrease.

1995 Acta Metallurgica et Materialia 43 3814/1 This observation has indicated that there is an additional factor to the notch effect of PSBs on fatigue crack initiation.

notch factor n. Materials Science the ratio of the fatigue strength of a material having no stress concentration to that of the same material in which stress raisers exist.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > ratios of fatigue and stress concentration

notch sensitiveness1934

notch sensitivity1934

notch factor1939

1939 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 43 728 As the notch-depth increases, the notch-factor increases up to a critical value of the notch-depth, and thereafter decreases.

1968 F. A. d'Isa Mech. of Metals vii. 326 The actual effectiveness of stress concentration on fatigue strength is measured by the fatigue notch factor, K_f.

notch filter n. Electronics a filter that attenuates signals within a very narrow band of frequencies.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > filter > type of

band-pass filter1922

slope filter1937

comb filter1941

state variable1942

noise filter1960

notch filter1962

1950 Electronics July 75/3 (heading) Notching filters.]

1962 Electronic Technol. 39 332/1 At v.h.f. it is desirable to construct notch filters from coaxial elements.

1988 V. Capel Audio & Hi-Fi Engineer's Pocket Bk. 120 The inclusion of a 19kHz pilot-tone notch filter may slightly reduce the upper response.

notch-girdle v. Forestry transitive to girdle (a tree) by cutting a continuous notch or series of notches around the trunk, extending into the sapwood.

ΚΠ

1953 Forestry Abstr. 15 313 Trees band-girdled..sprouted less..than trees notch-girdled (to a sapwood depth of 0.25–0.75 in.).

1957 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol.: Pt. II (Empire Forestry Assoc.) ii. 79 Girdle, notch, to girdle by making a close series of downward and upward cuts through the bark, cambium and outer wood, so notching the wood all around the bole.

notch-girdled adj. Forestry that has been subject to notch-girdling.

ΚΠ

1925 Jrnl. Agric. Res. 31 269 Percentage of germination of seeds from—notch-girdled trees..Peeled trees.

notch-girdling n. Forestry a method of girdling a tree which involves cutting a continuous notch or series of notches around the trunk, extending into the sapwood (cf. notching n. 4b).

ΚΠ

1939 Station Note Central States Forest Exper. Station (Columbus, Ohio) No. 37. 2 The four methods of treatment were..cutting..notch-girdling, the killing of all the trees by the removal of a ring of bark and sapwood, thus bringing about a gradual release during the first year; [etc.].

1971 F. C. Ford-Robertson Terminol. Forest Sci. 119/1 Making a series of close downward and upward, i.e. V-shaped, incisions into the sapwood is termed notch-girdling.

1987 Forestry 60 45 (title) The physiology of epicormic bud emergence in pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.). Responses to partial notch girdling in thinned and unthinned stands.

† notch-head n. Architecture Obsolete an ornamental incision in stone.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > other ornaments

pommela1300

crest1430

finial1448

balloon1592

brattishingc1593

knob1610

cartouche1611

ogive1611

fret1626

galace1663

acroterion1664

paternoster1728

semi-urn1742

patera1776

purfling1780

sailing course1807

vesica piscis (also piscium)1809

antefix1819

vesica1820

garland1823

stop1825

Aaron's rod1830

headwork1831

Vitruvian scroll1837

hip knob1838

stelea1840

ball-flower1840

notch-head1843

brandishing1846

buckle1848

cat's-head1848

bucrane1854

cresting1869

semi-ball1875

canephorus1880

crest-board1881

wave pattern1905

husk1934

foliate head1939

green man1939

1843 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 6 320/1 An ornamental parapet, with a cornice of notch-heads, or dog-tooth, or corbels.

notch-ladder n. rare a notched pole serving as a ladder.

ΚΠ

1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 657/2 A notable feature of these smaller mines is the notch-ladder system of conveying the ore from the interior to the pit-head. Two masts, notched like bear-poles, form the means of ascent and descent for a more or less continuous chain of peons.

notch planting n. = notching n. 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > planting trees or afforestation > notch-planting

notching1847

notch planting1953

1953 H. L. Edlin Forester's Handbk. ix. 145 Notch planting..is the simplest and cheapest method, by which the majority of forest trees are planted today.

1970 H. L. Edlin Collins Guide to Tree Planting & Cultivation vii. 107 (heading) Notch planting.

notch provision n. Economics a provision (in a system of taxation, etc.) designed to eliminate or lessen the effect of a notch (sense 6).

ΚΠ

1938 F. M. Vinson in Congr. Rec. 3 Mar. 2780/1 Without the notch provisions, a corporation with an ordinary net tax of $25,001..would have a tax of $1,475.20 more than the corporation with a net income of $1 less.

1945 H. L. Lutz Guideposts to Free Econ. xi. 101 A so-called ‘notch’ provision would be required to prevent the income tax from reducing incomes that are slightly above the $1,000 or $2,000 levels, respectively, to a point below those levels.

1950 H. C. Murphy National Debt v. 53 Amounts of tax liability of $50 or less were canceled completely, and those between $50 and $66.67 were canceled more than 75 per cent in accordance with a ‘notch’ provision.

† notch-ringing n. Forestry Obsolete = notch-girdling n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > removing bark from trees > removing circle of bark

ring1700

girdling1792

ringing1816

girdle1825

notch-ringing1884

ringbarking1938

1884 Australasian 8 Nov. 875/1 In notch-ringing, a belt of bark is not only removed, but a notch running round the tree is cut in the sap-wood about 2 in. deep.

notch-sensitive adj. Materials Science characterized by a high notch sensitivity.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [adjective] > relating to change of form > having high notch sensitivity

notch-sensitive1946

notch-brittle1958

1946 Metallurgia 33 250/1 A forthright statement of which material is the more notch sensitive seems impossible.

1994 Jrnl. Materials Engin. & Performance 3 356 The δ-phase precipitates formed at an angle to the grain boundaries do not make the material notch sensitive.

notch sensitiveness n. Materials Science rare = notch sensitivity n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > ratios of fatigue and stress concentration

notch sensitiveness1934

notch sensitivity1934

notch factor1939

1934 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 130 653 The investigation of notch sensitiveness, the use of the index of notch sensitiveness..and the connection between the index and the chemical composition..are discussed.

notch sensitivity n. Materials Science the reduction of strength of a material caused by the presence of a notch or other stress raiser; the degree of this.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > ratios of fatigue and stress concentration

notch sensitiveness1934

notch sensitivity1934

notch factor1939

1934 Jrnl. Res. National Bureau of Standards (U.S.) 13 535 Even for annealed copper, notch sensitivity evidently is equal to that of steels with tensile strength five times as great.

1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. v. 272 The term ‘notch sensitivity’ is applied to the degree to which these discontinuities reduce the mechanical properties.

notch sight n. a gunsight incorporating a notch through which aim is taken.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > sight > types of

dispart1578

telescopic sight1674

plain sight1686

aim-frontlet1745

hausse1787

foresight1806

gloaming sight1817

night-sight1822

bead1831

leaf1832

backsight1847

globe sight1847

pendulum hausse1850

hindsight1851

tangent scale1859

tangent1861

tangent backsight1862

training pendulum1862

training level1863

peep sight1866

dispart-sight1867

notch sight1867

buck-horn1877

orthoptic1881

aperturea1884

pinball-sighta1884

dispart patch1884

sight bar1884

flap-sight1887

barley-corn1896

ring sight1901

riflescope1902

spotting scope1904

tangent sight1908

Aldis sight1918

wind-sight1923

scope sight1934

gyro-sight1942

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Notch-sight of a gun, a sight having a V-shaped notch, wherein the eye easily finds the lowest or central point.

1995 Re: would these products work? in rec.guns (Usenet newsgroup) 20 July Now bolt one end where the snubby's rear notch sight is, and attach a small notch sight to the free end.

notch stick n. a tally stick.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > mining equipment > [noun] > equipment for lowering or raising miners or material > for raising material > tally-stick for number of tubs

notch stick1853

1853 G. J. Cayley Las Alforjas I. 61 In the fingers of his right [hand] was a crooked whittle, with which..as the basketfuls arrived, he would nick the score upon notch-sticks.

1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Notch Sticks, short pieces of stick notched or nicked, used by miners as records of the number of tubs of coal, &c., they send out of the pit during the day.

1948 D. Harkey Mean as Hell xvii. 175 I have lost my notch stick on Mexicans that I killed out on the border.

notch-tough adj. Materials Science that is resistant to fracture at a notch.

ΚΠ

1965 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 285 7 Thicker [steel] plate is generally less notch-tough than thin plate—presumably because thick notch-tough plate is difficult to produce economically.

1991 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 334 384 This failure mode is prevented by the incorporation of notch tough steels in the hull girder.

notch toughness n. Materials Science resistance to fracture at a notch; spec. the result (in units of energy) of a notched-bar test on a specimen.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > specific susceptibility to fracture > result of notched-bar test

notch toughness1926

1926 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 113 624 This method of testing enables it to be judged whether a material has been brought to its best condition in regard to notch-toughness.

1981 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 299 10 A special grade of steel..that had a notch toughness capable of reducing to a low level the risk of brittle fracture in the more highly stressed regions of the hull.

† notchweed n. Obsolete the plant stinking goosefoot, Chenopodium vulvaria (cf. sense 4a).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Chenopodiaccae (goose-foot and allies) > [noun] > salt bush or orach

milesOE

orachea1300

golden herb1562

notchweed1659

sea pot-herb1706

lamb's quarter1773

butter leaves1789

fat-hen1795

mountain spinach1822

sea-orach1845

salt bush1863

1659Notchweed [see sense 4a].

1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ Notch weed, Atriplex olida.

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 793/2 Notchweed, Chenopodium Vulvaria.

† notch-wheel n. Obsolete the count-wheel in a clock.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > part(s) of

nut1428

peise1428

plumbc1450

Jack1498

clockwork1516

larum1542

Jack of the clockhouse1563

watch-wheel1568

work1570

plummeta1578

Jack of the clock1581

snail-cam1591

snail-work1591

pointer1596

quarter jack1604

mainspring1605

winder1606

notch-wheel1611

fusee1622

count-wheel1647

jack-wheel1647

frame1658

arbor1659

balance1660

fuse1674

hour-figure1675

stop1675

pallet1676

regulator1676

cock1678

movement1678

detent1688

savage1690

clock1696

pinwheel1696

starred wheel1696

swing-wheel1696

warning-wheel1696

watch1696

watch-part1696

hoop-wheel1704

hour-wheel1704

snail1714

step-wheel1714

tide-work1739

train1751

crutch1753

cannon pinion1764

rising board1769

remontoire1774

escapement1779

clock jack1784

locking plate1786

scapement1789

motion work1795

anchor escapement1798

scape1798

star-wheel1798

recoil escapement1800

recoiling pallet1801

recoiling scapement1801

cannon1802

hammer-tail1805

recoiling escapement1805

bottle jack1810

renovating spring1812

quarter-boy1815

pin tooth1817

solar wheel1819

impulse-teeth1825

pendulum wheel1825

pallet arbor1826

rewinder1826

rack hook1829

snail-wheel1831

quarter bell1832

tow1834

star pulley1836

watch train1838

clock train1843

raising-piece1843

wheelwork1843

gravity escapement1850

jumper1850

vertical escapement1850

time train1853

pin pallet1860

spade1862

dead well1867

stop-work1869

ringer1873

strike-or-silent1875

warning-piece1875

guard-pin1879

pendulum cock1881

warning-lever1881

beat-pin1883

fusee-piece1884

fusee-snail1884

shutter1884

tourbillion1884

tumbler1884

virgule1884

foliot1899

grasshopper1899

grasshopper escapement1899

trunk1899

pin lever1908

clock spring1933

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Rouë de compte, a Notch-wheele in a Clocke.

† notch-wing n. Obsolete any of various moths distinguished by notches in the wings.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > member of (moth)

farfalla1606

taper-fly?1614

candle-fly1626

moth1646

phalaena1658

pilser1736

redneck1773

bustard1803

soul1815

notch-wing1819

satellite1832

bobowler1852

1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 435 The shallow Notchwing... The common Notchwing.

1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 180 The Chequered Notch-Wing.

C3. Chiefly Economics. In general attributive use in sense 6, as notch problem, etc.

ΚΠ

1967 C. Green Negative Taxes & Poverty Probl. v. 66 The difficulty with this..is that it produces what tax experts call a ‘notch’ problem. That is, it is possible for some families..to have a higher after-allowance income than that of previously better-off families.

1973 Jrnl. Human Resources 8 431 In the last few years..this notch effect has grown absolutely worse.

1992 A. B. Krueger & J.-S. Pischke in Jrnl. Labor Econ. 10 412 (title) The effect of social security on labor supply: a cohort analysis of the notch generation.

2001 Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gaz. (Nexis) 20 May 9 b Olson is closely following Congressional efforts to compensate notch year veterans for lost benefits.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

notchv.

Brit.

/nɒtʃ/, U.S.

/nɑtʃ/

Forms: 1500s–1700s noch, 1500s– notch, 1700s– knotch.

Origin: Probably formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: notch n.

Etymology: Probably < notch n. Compare earlier oche v., and compare also earlier unnotched adj. 1 and discussion at that entry.

a. transitive. To record or tally by means of notches. Frequently with up; also occasionally with down, off. Now chiefly figurative.

ΘΚΠ

society > communication > record > pictorial, etc., records > [verb (transitive)]

nick?1523

notch1573

score1590

tallya1640

the world > relative properties > number > enumeration, reckoning, or calculation > number, calculate, or reckon [verb (transitive)] > record > by notches

scorec1386

tallyc1440

nick?1523

notch1573

strike1626

1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes sig. i^v Here in your score are notched vp two seuerall vntruths.

a1627 T. Middleton More Dissemblers besides Women v. i, in 2 New Playes (1657) 67 I'll notch your faults up.

1645 T. Fuller Good Thoughts in Bad Times iii. ix. 149 He had no leisure to eat, for notching up the men he met.

a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V cclxxxiv, in Poems (1878) IV. 172 Let Harrie's Fate (Notch'd sure with Time) Spin to a Softer Bed.

1796 R. Cumberland Days of Yore i. 4 Eight days are gone by; I notch'd them on my staff.

1825 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 346 I notch them off as a prisoner does the days of his captivity.

1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. ix. 126 We notched the votes down on three sticks.

1879 Princeton Rev. May 478 The cataract itself has notched the records of the ages of its retrocession upon the rocks by its side.

1991 P. McGilligan George Cukor iii. 72 Swaggering,..manly men who notched their leading ladies on their belt.

1999 D. F. Wallace Brief Interviews with Hideous Men 26 Who wants to lie there feeling all ungenerous and greedy while some Yuppie with a Porsche shows off his Tantric Clouds..mentally notching off how many times you come?

†b. transitive. Cricket. To keep score for (a cricket match). Also intransitive with object implied. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > umpiring and scoring > umpire and score [verb (transitive)]

notch1712

1712 Devil & Peers (single sheet) in W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket (1934) 170 The two nobles..promis'd..Twelvepence to a third Boy to knotch the Game down exact.

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vii. 67 They notch in here—it's the best place in the whole field.

c. transitive. Originally in Sport: to achieve (a score, victory, etc.). Now: gen. to achieve, produce, or register (an amount, total, etc.). Now chiefly with up.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > score

get1634

make1680

score1742

notch1836

steal1836

to put up1860

rattle1860

to put on1865

tally1875

net1907

to rack up1921

slam1959

1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vii. 69 All-Muggleton had notched some fifty-four.

1862 Temple Bar 6 286 in W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket (1934) 170 The Eleven notched 305.

1895 Daily News 18 Dec. 9/4 The nearest they could get to scoring was a corner, whilst their opponents notched two goals.

1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 702/1 A speed of one hundred miles an hour has been notched on more than one occasion.

1963 Sunday Express 6 Jan. 23/5 Her earnings now are well above the £10,000 she was notching up a few years ago.

1989 U.S. Air Sept. 106/2 There is little wonder why Cleveland notched a ninth place on..recent ranking of cities for their cultural facilities.

2002 Times 21 Feb. ii. 17/2 The film awards have notched up a lucrative three-year television deal with the BBC.

a. transitive. To cut or make a notch in; to cut or mark with a notch. Also figurative and in extended use.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > form a recess in [verb (transitive)] > notch

nick?1440

jag1568

natch1570

notch1581

notch1834

1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades vi. 102 Hard vnto the braine the scull with brande he brake, And in the forehead notchte him deepe.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Filicare, to notch about the edges as ferne is, or indenter wise.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv. v. 192 He scotcht him, and notcht him like a Carbinado.

1672 W. Talbot tr. J. Lederer Discov. 25 You must not forget to notch the trees as you go along with your small Hatchet.

1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. i. 84 From him whose quills stand quiver'd at his ear, To him who notches Sticks at Westminster.

1766 Compl. Farmer at Madder They are seven inches broad, notched half the thickness of the stocks of the beetles.

1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park III. xv. 280 Her eyes could only wander to..the table cut and knotched by her brothers.

1862 M. T. Morrall Hist. Needle-making 2 You may see men grinding long steel bars to the necessary fineness,..then notching them at the required lengths.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) xvii. 274 The eastern end is notched by the estuary of the Thames.

1906 J. London White Fang iii. i. 118 He knotched the stick at each end and in the notches fastened strings of raw-hide.

1956 G. Huntington Madame Solario x. 111 A white scar notched his cheek just under the cheekbone.

1988 Architects' Jrnl. 20 Jan. 59/1 Under no circumstances should proprietary trussed rafters be notched or drilled.

†b. transitive. To convert into by making notches. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > form a recess in [verb (transitive)] > notch > convert into by notching

notcha1774

a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1837) II. iii. xix. 319 Persons..might notch a stick into something that could be fancied a human face.

1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley ii. 28 Another would notch it into a saw.

1862 G. P. Scrope Volcanos (ed. 2) 136 Notching it into..fantastically-shaped eminences.

1885 Cent. Mag. 29 876/1 The top of the gable wall was notched into corbel steps.

†c. intransitive. To make notches. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > recede or form recess [verb (intransitive)] > make notches

notch1846

1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 1 Remorseless twins they are for striding through their human forests, notching as they go.

†3. transitive. To cut (hair) unevenly; to crop. Obsolete.Cf. Percivall Spanish Dict. (1591) ‘Trasquilones, notches in the hair’.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > cut > unevenly

notchc1590

c1590 Sir Thomas More (1911) 87 Yf losse of hayre Cannot mad a man—what Can?..Moore had bin better a Scowrd More ditch, than a notcht mee thus.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Bertauder,..to notch, or cut the haire vneuenly.

1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Uu3/3 To notch Hair, couper les Cheveux d'une maniere ridicule.

1747 P. Francis tr. Horace Epist. i. i. 136 If some unlucky Barber notch my Hair.

4. transitive. Archery. To fit (an arrow) to a bowstring; = nock v. 2a.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > use of bow and arrow > shoot (arrow) [verb (transitive)] > fit (arrow) to string

nocka1522

notch1635

1635 F. Quarles Emblemes i. vii. 30 His Bow is bent, and he has notch'd his dart.

a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V clxxix, in Poems (1878) IV. 145 Other well-notch their Arrowes; trye their Stringes And draw their Bowes.

1675 C. Cotton Burlesque upon Burlesque 131 I..had chose an Arrow..Had notch't it, and without all dread Had drawn it almost to the head.

1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 289 Their Arrows being soon notch'd upon their Bows.

1767 Poetry in Ann. Reg. 230 I bent my bow,..and strait Notch'd on the nerve the messenger of fate.

1848 H. W. Herbert Tale Mexican Marches ix. 46 They urged their horses to yet fiercer speed,..notching their arrows to the string, as they rode at full gallop.

1884 T. Woolner Silenus ii. iv. 125 The bowmen notched the arrows on the strings.

1951 A. Bester Demolished Man (1978) xii. 164 He turned with a strangulated cry and ran from the fire as Reich notched another arrow.

1986 N. Barley Plague of Caterpillars x. 116 We were greeted by seven very irritated men, arrows notched to slay anything that moved.

†5. transitive. To stop or jam (a wheel). Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > drive a vehicle [verb (transitive)] > drive a wheeled vehicle > apply brake to wheel

trig1591

notch1674

skid1674

roughlock1828

drag1829

spoke1854

brake1868

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 130 They can't strike sail, or notch the wheels,..in a trice.

†6. intransitive. To become notched. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > condition or action of indentation of edge > become indented at edge [verb (intransitive)]

notch1693

gap1847

1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. iv. x. 15 Their matter must be of good temper'd Steel, so that the edge may neither turn, or notch easily.

a. transitive. To fix, secure, attach, or insert by means of notches. Also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fastening > condition of being fast bound or firmly fixed > make fast [verb (transitive)] > fasten or fix > in something > by means of notches

notch1768

1768 C. Beatty Jrnl. Two Months' Tour 72 Logs of wood laid upon one another, notched at the corners into each other.

1782 B. Dearborn Descr. Fire-Engine in Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Mem. (1785) 1 xxvii. 523 A standard to support the arms; another answering to it on the opposite side, both being notched into the edges of the planks.

1823 W. Scott St. Ronan's Well I. i. 13 The houses were notched as it were into the side of the steep bank.

1837 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 2/2 Longitudinal sleepers of timber..on which are notched down transverse bearers.

a1862 H. D. Thoreau Maine Woods (1864) i. 17 One directly above another, and notched together at the ends.

1875 Carpentry & Joinery 62 You can notch in the corners, like E, as it cannot get out of place when the top is nailed on.

1959 E. Collier Three against Wilderness 285 Another log leaves the ground, teeters on the skid poles, then rolls slowly up and is notched down into place.

1990 Pract. Householder Apr. 13/2 Where your partition includes a doorway, notch a noggin between the studs at each side of the opening as a lintel.

†b. transitive. To chop off. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > detach [verb (transitive)] > cut off

becarveOE

carvec1000

hewc1000

shredc1275

cuta1300

chapc1325

cleavec1330

off-shearc1330

withscore1340

to cut offc1380

colea1400

slivea1400

to score awayc1400

abscisea1500

discidea1513

sharea1529

off-trenchc1530

off-hewc1540

pare1549

detrench1553

slice?1560

detrunk1566

sneck1578

resect1579

shred1580

curtail1594

off-chop1594

lop?1602

disbranch1608

abscind1610

snip1611

circumcise1613

desecate1623

discerpa1628

amputate1638

absciss1639

prescind1640

notch1820

1820 W. Scott Abbot I. iii. 60 Have they hands, and fight not for the land which bore them? They should be notched off at the elbow.

c. transitive. To cut out.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > form a recess in [verb (transitive)] > notch

nick?1440

jag1568

natch1570

notch1581

notch1834

1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortification 150 The ends notched out so as to halve into each other.

1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 192 Rhombic in shape with a corner notched out.

1969 Jane's 100 Significant Aircraft 38/2 Floors notched out for two-thirds of depth to fit over solid keelson.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	notch
释义	notchn. Brit. /nɒtʃ/, U.S. /nɑtʃ/ Forms: 1500s notche, 1500s– notch, 1600s–1700s noch, 1700s (1900s rare) knotch. Origin: Apparently a borrowing from French. Etymons: French noche, osche, oche. Etymology: Apparently < Anglo-Norman noche (early 14th cent.), variant of Anglo-Norman and Middle French osche notch, hole in an object (1170 in Old French), oche incised mark used to keep a record (13th cent.; French hoche nick, small notch; further etymology uncertain and disputed: see below), with attraction of n from the indefinite article in French (compare nombril n.).Anglo-Norman and Middle French osche , oche is cognate with post-classical Latin osca (858 in a source from Navarre, Aragon), Old Occitan osca (c1228), Catalan osca (14th cent.). Several possibilities have been suggested for the further etymology of the Romance word, including a Gaulish word cognate with Breton ask notch, nick, and a pre-Indo-European substratal survival related to Basque ozka notch (if this is not itself a loan from Romance). Although this word corresponds closely in form and meaning to both nick n.¹ and nock n.¹, no etymological relationship has been established between them. Examples of oche v. occur in Middle English in the alliterative Morte Arthure (see quots. s.v.), but a corresponding noun has apparently not been recorded in English. The following perhaps puns on sense 4a, although the literal sense is unclear:a1627 T. Middleton No Wit (1657) i. 19 The Widow's Notch shall lie open to you. 1. a. A groove, incision, or indentation (typically V-shaped in cross-section) in an edge, or across or through a surface. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > [noun] > making or becoming notched > a notch nick?a1450 gap1530 notch1555 natch1570 notching1640 nitch1726 snick1775 nicking1844 jog1845 the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > pruning or lopping > cut made in pruning lance1669 fall1893 notch1916 1555 R. Eden tr. V. Biringucci Pyrotechnia in tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde f. 335^v Tables made eyther of the tymber of plane trees, of elme, or whyte nuttes,..hauing theyr playnes made ful of hackes, & notches, with the helpe of the sawe or such other instrumentes of iren. ?a1560 L. Digges Geom. Pract.: Pantometria (1571) i. xx. sig. F ij ^v Make a fyne notche, or marke vpon that subtending staffe. 1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. vi. f. 107^v/2, in R. Holinshed Chron. I The one ende set on a peece of woodde, which goeth crosse ouer ye two rabets, & the other ende being let into the blocke, holding the Axe, with a notche made into the same after the maner of a Sampsons post. 1597 W. Barlow Navigator's Supply sig. D3^v Prepare a little Notche or slit of equall deapth in the two sights of the sight-Ruler. 1624 J. Smith Gen. Hist. Virginia ii. 31 To make the noch of his arrow he hath the tooth of a Beaver, set in a sticke, wherewith he grateth it by degrees. 1648 Bp. J. Wilkins Math. Magick i. ix. 60 A little wheel, with some notches in it, equivalent to teeth. 1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World iii. 41 The other end..is jagged with notches like a Harpoon. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 96 With much chopping..hard Wood, they were all full of Notches and dull. 1774 M. Mackenzie Treat. Maritim Surv. 45 A crooked Bit of Brass, with a Notch in it. 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 306 Each circle..is divided into eleven parts, and at each a rectangular notch is cut. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1276 Every year after the horn is protruded from the head, with a notch on it. 1882 R. Jefferies Bevis I. x. 172 He could hardly cut the hard dried bark of the ash... He made a spiral notch round it. 1916 tr. K. Koopmann in L. H. Bailey Pruning-man. v. 127 Notches are made on twigs of one year's growth or more, to influence a particular bud in various ways. 1945 C. E. Balleisen Princ. Firearms ix. 91 The earliest rear sights consisted of a blade in which was a notch. 1991 APWA Reporter Oct. 17/2 (advt.) Lid lifter fits round and rectangular lids..with center holes, off-center holes or side notches. 2001 RCM & E (Radio Control Models & Electronics) Mar. 77/3 Mark the position of all the formers and undercarriage plates onto the fuselage sides, and cut the notches that leg B will fit into. †b. Archery. = nock n.¹ 1a. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > archer's weapons > [noun] > bow > end of nocka1398 horn1611 notch1621 recurve1961 1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy ii. ii. iv. 338 This present Sultan makes notches for bowes. 1868 W. Morris Earthly Paradise 450 The evil thing of brass and wood Up to his ear the notches drew. c. Dressmaking and Tailoring. An indentation marked on a pattern or cut into the edge of a piece of material to enable accurate matching of a seam.In quot. a1644 figurative. ΚΠ a1644 F. Quarles Shepheards Oracles (1646) viii We cut out doctrines, and from notch to notch, We fit our holy Stuffe. 1917 D. F. Canfield Understood Betsy vii. 174 Stashie..did the first basting, putting the notches together carefully, while they read the instructions aloud. 1967 Simplicity 7391 (Simplicity Pattern Co. Inc.) Stitch along seam line and ¼″ inside seam line between notches. 1992 Sew News Dec. 45/2 Pin the first band section to the bodice, matching the notches. d. Each of a series of holes in the end of a belt or strap into which the pin of a buckle may be inserted. Also in figurative context. ΚΠ 1846 J. S. Holt Jrnl. Dec. in J. F. H. Claiborne Life & Corr. J. A. Quitman (1860) I. x. 277 The men..let out their belts a notch or two. 1897 Outing 30 266/2 When you have girded yourself up to the last notch, so to speak. 1954 R. Dahl Someone like You 244 The muzzle-strap to be tightened an extra four notches. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 23 Oct. 20/2 His pearl snap-button shirt is open, his belt loosened a notch, his head propped up with a bulky, weathered arm. 1992 L. Gordon Shared Lives vi. 116 Flora tried out a new diet and pulled her wide belt one notch tighter. e. Each of a graduated series of indentations, marks, or points on the dial of an instrument or control. ΚΠ 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1582/1 The dial is figured from 0 to 16, the index being moved one notch for every chain run. 1917 E. R. Burroughs Princess of Mars xxvii. 321 With one hand on the steering wheel and the other pushing the speed lever to its last notch I split the thin air..with the speed of a meteor. 1970 ‘E. McGirr’ Death pays Wages vii. 146 He turned up the central heating a notch. 1986 Punch 18 June 37/1 Men in the outposts of a sweltering Empire would turn up the fan a notch or two. f. A slit in the ground made to take the roots of a seedling tree. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > planting trees or afforestation > slit or trench for planting scrobe1686 notch1891 1891 W. Schlich Man. Forestry II. ii. 126 An enlarged notch may be produced by swaying it [sc. the notching spade] to and fro. 1934 Forestry 8 21 A deep vertical notch..with adequate firming, is the best method of planting. 1970 H. L. Edlin Collins Guide to Tree Planting & Cultivation vii. 107 In its simplest form, the notch is just a slit cut into the ground, into which the tree's roots are inserted. 2. a. A nick (usually one of a number of nicks) made on a stick, etc., as a means of keeping a record, score, or total. Also figurative.†out of all scotch and notch: see scotch n.¹ Phrases. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > enumeration, reckoning, or calculation > [noun] > mark made to keep score or record nick?a1450 notch1565 chalk1674 tally1951 society > trade and finance > management of money > keeping accounts > account or statement of > [noun] > tally > notch cut in scorec1460 notch1565 round O1625 1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Crena, a notche in a skore. 1580 C. Hollyband Treasurie French Tong Vne oche, vn cren, or crenne, a notch in a skore. 1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. F The Exposer has..payed him exactly, though not in as good Billet, yet in as many Notches. a1689 A. Behn Widdow Ranter (1690) iii. i. 27 Your Warrants are like a Brewers Tally a Notch on a Stick. 1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 74 Upon the Sides of this square Post I cut every Day a Notch with my Knife. 1785 W. Cowper Tirocinium in Task 560 Th' indented stick, that loses day by day Notch after notch . View more context for this quotation 1798 T. Dibdin Mouth of Nile iii. 23 We've made another notch in the Calendar of Victory. 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 41 (note) It is customary amongst the Missouri Indians to register every exploit in war, by making a notch for each on the handle of their tomahawks. 1841 G. Catlin Lett. N. Amer. Indians I. xxi. 147 The notches he had recorded for the snows (or years) of his life. 1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxv. 155 He felt sure that there was a notch made against him, and that somehow or other he was intended to pay. 1902 Wyoming Derrick 9 Oct. 1/3 As a scout, the hunter of train robbers and outlaws and the regulator of cattle thieves, has to put a good many notches in his gun. 1958 T. H. White Once & Future King ii. vii. 259 He showed the hole where the lead was poured in, and the nails through the end, and the notches near the handle which stood for ancient scalps. 1986 R. Brandon Left, Right & Centre xxxii. 184 ‘Did you know that poor Art Brownson died? Quite suddenly, I believe.’ ‘Another notch in your gun?’ b. In extended use: a run in cricket. Now historical. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > batting > [noun] > running > run notch1730 run1752 1730 London Evening-post 18 Aug. The London Side won by on Notch. 1752 Game at Cricket in New Universal Mag. Nov. 581/2 If in running a notch, the wicket is struck down by a throw..it's out. 1812 Sporting Mag. 40 246 A match..which was won by Burley, ninety-seven notches against sixty-five. 1835 W. Howitt in Friendship Miss Mitford (1882) I. xii. 293 The sudden shout..of the crowd when the last decisive notch was gained. 1881 Sportsman's Year-bk. 137 1,163 notches have been placed to his credit by the scorers. 1912 Chambers's Jrnl. July 449/2 Three of the University batsmen fell in rapid succession without a single ‘notch’ to their credit. 1986 Club Cricketer May 14/2 London outplayed Surrey, winning the 20 guineas stake-money by six notches. 3. a. An opening; a break or breach. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [noun] holec725 thirla900 eyeOE opena1200 opening?c1225 overturec1400 overta1425 wideness?c1425 howe1487 hiatus1563 vent1594 apertion1599 ferme1612 notch1615 sluice1648 gape1658 aperture1661 want1664 door1665 hiulcitya1681 to pass through the eye of a needle (also a needle's eye)1720 vista1727 light1776 ope1832 lacuna1872 doughnut hole1886 1615 T. Roe Jrnl. 17 Aug. (1899) I. 27 The poynte bearing W.S.W...is a downeright sharpe rocke with two Notches making a Baye, lyeing in W.S.W. 1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont ii. 25 The direction of this passage is oblique, and full of stops or notches. 1804 C. B. Brown tr. C. F. de Volney View Soil & Climate U.S.A. 66 The gaps, whose sides..exhibit those notches occasioned by the first overflowings of the lake. 1886 T. Hardy Mayor of Casterbridge I. xi. 130 The Amphitheatre was a huge circular enclosure, with a notch at opposite extremities of its diameter north and south. 1965 G. J. Jones Fund. Workshop Technol. i. 5 The slag is allowed to run off through the slag notch for disposal and then the furnace is tapped. 1971 P. Berton Last Spike v. i. 187 The trains were destined to travel on the very lip of the precipice into which a kind of notch had been blasted, the roof consisting of solid rock. b. Chiefly North American. A narrow opening or defile through mountains; a deep narrow pass.Common in place names in parts of New England, U.S. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > valley > [noun] > mountain pass gowl1638 notch1649 ghat1698 neck1707 slap1715 narrow1768 bealach1794 poort1796 kotal1880 1649 C. Wilde Voy. to Madras (Sloane 3231) f. 31^v Ye great notch or opening of ye hill. 1718 S. Sewall Diary 15 Sept. (1973) II. 902 About ½ way between the Notch of the Mountain and Hartford. 1760 in New-Eng. Historical & Geneal. Reg. (1882) XXXVI. 32 On arriving on the Lake, I took the bearing of a Notch or Break in the Mountains. 1812 J. Melish Trav. in U.S.A. I. 98 There is a singular curiosity in the state [of New Hampshire] called the Notch, which is a pass through the mountains. 1838 N. Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1883) 197 This Notch is otherwise called the Bellowspipe, being a long and narrow valley, with a steep wall on either side. 1890 J. H. Ward White Mts. 45 The Crawford Notch is so much in the heart of the mountains that it offers unusual facilities for seeing them. 1906 W. Churchill Coniston 2 Coniston Mountain, with its notch road that winds over the saddle behind the withers of it. 1930 J. Beames Army without Banners 140 By the first he discovered a short cut through a notch between two hills that eliminated seven miles of the crooked and treacherous Moose River. 1979 United States 1980–81 661 The ragged, hairpin road through the notch is impassable during winter. c. An opening extending above the water level in a weir or similar structure placed across a river or stream. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > water > lake > pool > [noun] > artificially confined water > contrivance for impounding water > weir > opening in notch1770 1770 J. Smeaton Reports (1812) iii. 53 The mill, in case it is not a time of short water, is to have its water passing the notch shortened. 1790 T. Wright Advantages & Method Watering Meadows (ed. 2) 20 Keep it [sc. the water] high enough to flow through the notches, (or what we improperly call sluices). a1830 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) III. 238/1 Theoretically the quantity discharged through a rectangular notch, which reaches to the surface, is two-thirds of what would issue through an equal orifice placed at the whole depth below the level of the fluid. 1907 W. C. Unwin Treat. Hydraulics v. 96 Notches for measuring purposes are weirs fitted with a plate in which an open notch is formed through which the water passes. 1914 W. M. Wallace Hydraulics xii. 188 Where it is possible to provide an artificial section for the stream the gauge notch is used, of which there are three standard forms, viz., (1) rectangular, (2) circular, (3) triangular. 1974 J. A. Fox Introd. Engin. Fluid Mech. iii. 99 In the case of orifices and rectangular notches the coefficient of discharge varies with both the Reynolds number and the value of l/h. 1995 N. Hudson Soil Conservation (ed. 3) viii. 173 The shape of the notch gives the desirable combination of sensitivity at low flows and large capacity at high flows. 4. In various figurative uses. a. coarse slang. The female genitals.Recorded earliest in notchweed n. at Compounds 2.In quot. c1720 punning on sense 2a; perhaps cf. also quot. a1627 in etymological note above. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > sex organs > female sex organs > [noun] cuntc1230 quivera1382 chosec1386 privy chosea1387 quoniamc1405 naturec1470 shell1497 box1541 water gate1541 mouth1568 quiver case1568 water gap1586 cunnya1593 medlar1597 mark1598 buggle-boo1600 malkin1602 lap1607 skin coat1611 quim1613 nest1614 watermilla1626 bum1655 merkin1656 twat1656 notch1659 commodity1660 modicum1660 crinkum-crankum1670 honeypot1673 honour1688 muff1699 pussy1699 puss1707 fud1771 jock1790 cock?1833 fanny?1835 vaginac1890 rug1893 money-maker1896 Berkeley1899 Berkeley Hunt1899 twitchet1899 mingea1903 snatch1904 beaver1927 coozie1934 Sir Berkeley1937 pocketbook1942 pranny1949 zatch1950 cooch1955 bearded clam1962 noonie1966 chuff1967 coozea1968 carpet1981 pum-pum1983 front bum1985 coochie1986 punani1987 front bottom1991 va-jay-jay2000 1659 W. Coles Adam in Eden 577 It is called..in English Stinking Arach, and Notchweed. 1660 ‘Mercurius Philalethes’ Select City Quaeries II. 12 Whether..the Barber buss'd the Wenches Rump out of love to her Notch, or respect of saving charges in the Law. c1720 Turnep Ground in J. S. Farmer National Ballad & Song (1897) I. 224 We'll scow'r off all their Notches. 1796 Grose's Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (ed. 3) Notch, the private parts of a woman. 1873 Romance of Lust II. 11 He placed Lizzie on the top of me, and guided my prick himself into her delicious tight little notch. 1994 Rescue in rec.arts.erotica (Usenet newsgroup) 10 Oct. He pictured himself coming..in her sweet wet notch. b. A point on a scale; a step, degree, or gradation. Cf. nick n.¹ 12c. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun] > a stage in a process or development degreec1230 greea1340 steadc1370 pointc1475 nick1649 stadium1669 notch1670 grade1796 step1811 milestone1820 way station1863 1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) Pref. sig. āiiij^v Traueling takes my yong nobleman four notches lower, in his self-conceit and pride. 1691 J. Dunton Voy. round World III. x. 368 We could not perceive that they were guilty of much Learning; of which the lowest degree is several notches above their most exalted capacity. c1817 J. Hogg Tales & Sketches II. 242 To bring them forward to the same notch of time. 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd II. xxii. 275 Ah, baily, she's a notch above you, and you must own it. 1958 Sunday Times (Johannesburg) 21 Sept. 4/9 Each of the Transvaal's 13,000 teachers will have their pay raised by at least one notch on October 1. 1979 J. Raban Arabia through Looking Glass vi. 198 In the hierarchy of labour they formed an upper working class of semi-skilled men—a clear notch or two above the Baluchis. 2002 Wall St. Jrnl. 2 Jan. a1/3 The confrontation was dialed down a notch after Pakistan moved to arrest leaders of militant groups. c. North American colloquial and regional. to the notch and variants: to the right standard, to perfection, exactly. Cf. nick n.¹ 3. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > freedom from error, correctness > exactness, accuracy, precision > be exact [phrase] to hit the nail upon (or on) the headc1450 to the notch1790 1790 R. Tyler Contrast v. i. 69 There the old man was even with her; he was up to the notch. 1853 E. K. Kane U.S. Grinnell Exped. 349 We..tumbled over, no matter how often; but we hit the ships to a notch. 1925 R. L. Bullard Personalities & Reminisc. War ii. 13 He could be very generous toward each man's peculiarities or failings provided that man was devoted and up to the notch in his own specialty. 1965–70 in Dict. Amer. Regional Eng. (1996) 827/2 To the last notch... Right down to the notch. †5. An act of notching or cutting. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > [noun] > making or becoming notched nicking1551 notching1599 gappinga1684 notch1844 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm I. 506 Small holes made in the ground with three or four notches of the spade. 1890 J. Kerr Hist. Curling iv. 161 The hack or notch in the ice,..is a later style of foothold. 6. Economics. A point or band on an income or other scale; spec. one at which the presence of an upper (or lower) limit to eligibility for a financial benefit or tax advantage results in relative disadvantage for those just below (or above) the limit, or in between two such limits; (also) the situation brought about by this; spec. = poverty trap n. at poverty n. Compounds. See also Compounds 3, and notch baby n., notch provision n. at Compounds 2.Sometimes used spec. with reference to U.S. citizens born between 1917 and 1921, who were believed by some to have received less than their full entitlement of social security benefits. ΚΠ 1937 Washington Evening Star 27 Dec. 1/8 Firms with medium-sized incomes, ranging up from $25,000, would be placed in what subcommitteemen termed a ‘notch’. 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 15 May 2/8 The notch, instead of $67, is $38.50, and it stops at $265.52. 1973 Jrnl. Human Resources 8 431 The result has been variously called a ‘poverty trap’ or a ‘poverty surtax’, but it is a classic example of an ‘income notch’. 1995 Q. Rev. Econ. 110 912 She loses her AFDC eligibility, and therefore her Medicaid benefits... This discontinuous drop in benefits has been called the ‘Medicaid notch’. Compounds C1. Parasynthetic. † notch-flowered adj. Obsolete ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > flower or flowering plant > [adjective] > having flowers or blossom > of specific size, form, or arrangement chaliceda1616 umbelliferous1668 umbellated1731 pyramidal1777 umbellate1785 starry-eyed1793 umbellal1836 hoop-petticoated1837 grandiflora1839 belleda1849 mop-headed1862 geminiflorous1866 notch-flowered1885 multiflora1934 1885 Cassell's Encycl. Dict. V. i Notch-flowered,..having the flowers notched at the margin. notch-leaved adj. ΚΠ 1703 Philos. Trans. 1702–3 (Royal Soc.) 23 1452 I generally observe the Notch-Leaved Ferns to be margine pulverulento. 1822 S. Clarke Hortus Anglicus II. 468 Alnus Serrulata Notch-leaved Alder. 1917 A. Teixeira de Mattos tr. J. H. Fabre Life of Grasshopper xx. 438 Euphorbia serrata, the narrow notch-leaved spurge. notch-tailed adj. ΚΠ 1980 R. Howard & A. Moore Compl. Checklist Birds of World 638/2 Temnurus temnurus (Notch-tailed Tree Pie). C2. notch baby n. U.S. a person whose date of birth falls between two dates delimiting a notch (sense 6), and who is thus ineligible for some benefit. ΚΠ 1983 Houston Post 5 Sept. f3/2 Dear Abby..If you are drawing Social Security and were born in 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920 or 1921 (called ‘the notch years’), you are being unjustly penalized... Write your congressman requesting that..a new bill be introduced to correct this unfair situation.—Notch-year Baby.] 1984 Congress. Rec. 14 Sept. 25515/2 For notch babies..who waited until 65 to retire, the drop could be as great as 10 percent in one year. 2001 Chattanooga (Tennessee) Times (Nexis) 13 Dec. c1 You're not a notch baby. For more than 20 years now, many older Americans born between 1917 and 1921 have expressed concern that they were denied the benefits they deserved. notchback n. and adj. (a) n. a car whose rear upper bodywork extends approximately horizontally from the bottom of the rear window so as to make a distinct angle with it (cf. fastback n. 2); (b) adj. (attributive) designating (a car having) such rear bodywork; also in extended use. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > powered vehicle > parts and equipment of motor vehicles > [noun] > body or bodywork > rear part > rear part arranged to carry luggage > horizontally projecting boot notchback1965 1959 Motor 28 Oct. 447/2 The Special Continental saloon..was notable for the abandonment of the sloping tail in favour of a notched back treatment.] 1965 J. Lawlor How to talk Car 76 Notch-back, body design with a separate distinct rear deck. The term is used to distinguish conventional styling from fast-back design. 1971 Flying (N.Y.) Apr. 40/1 In 1962, the Cessna 182 got the Omni-Vision treatment, with a notchback after fuselage and auto-style rear window. 1989 Motor Trend Mar. 18/1 Outside, the Person's longer, lower notchback styling is distinguished by pillarless side windows. 1997 Car Mar. 46 The Americans love notchbacks, but they don't like hatchbacks. notch bar test n. Materials Science = notched-bar test n. at notched adj. Compounds. ΚΠ 1957 Financial Times Ann. Rev. Brit. Industry 61/4 To predict the service behaviour of the steel..the information derived from small notch bar tests is being amplified. 1976 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 349 543 The change in transition temperature upon embrittling differs only some 10% between the slow bend notch bar and Charpy impact tests. † notch-block n. Nautical Obsolete = snatch-block n. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > equipment of vessel > tackle or purchase > [noun] > system of) pulley(s) > specific forms of block snap-block1626 tail-block1769 notch-block1788 strap-bound-block1794 monkey1834 strap-block1875 butterfly block1882 1788 Trans. Soc. Arts 6 207 A rope passing over the shieve of a notch block. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 38 Snatch-Blocks (or Notch-Blocks) which are single blocks with a notch cut in one cheek, to receive the bight of a rope. notch-board n. (a) Building a board grooved to receive the ends of the steps in a staircase; †(b) a notched board placed in a channel to impede the flow of water (obsolete). ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > stairs > [noun] > stringers stair-tree1374 sister1518 rail1679 string1711 carriage1758 rough string1819 notch-board1823 bridgeboard1842 stringer1883 the world > the earth > water > lake > pool > [noun] > artificially confined water > contrivance for impounding water > board with notches notch-board1823 1823 P. Nicholson New Pract. Builder 189 A notch-board is a board into which the ends of the steps are let. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 1024 Notch-boards injure the edges of feeders, besides causing deep holes to be scooped beyond them by the fall of water. 1855 Sci. Amer. 15 Sept. 403/1 Two-thirds of the quantity must be taken when water flows over a notch board. 1871 L. Colange Zell's Pop. Encycl. I. 365/3 Bridge-board, a board on which the ends of the steps of wooden stairs are fastened. Sometimes called notch-board. notch-brittle adj. susceptible to fracture at a notch when a sudden load is applied. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [adjective] > relating to change of form > having high notch sensitivity notch-sensitive1946 notch-brittle1958 1958 A. D. Merriman Dict. Metall. 212/1 In notch brittle materials the notch or crack is propagated with great rapidity under sudden loading conditions. 1981 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 299 13 The steel plate and weld metal were notch brittle at −10°C. notch brittleness n. Materials Science susceptibility to fracture at a notch when a sudden load is applied; the degree of this. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > specific susceptibility to fracture notch effect1925 notch brittleness1929 1929 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 120 514 The authors first discuss two diagrams representing the ratios of the notch-brittleness obtained by means of Mesnager test-pieces and large Charpy test-pieces for a large number of steels. 1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. v. 272 To determine the notch brittleness (or notch toughness), impact tests are performed on specimens prepared with a notch of precise width, depth and shape. notch-eared bat n. a small bat of southern Europe, North Africa, and south-west Asia, Myotis emarginatus (family Vespertilionidae), distinguished by a deep notch in the hind edge of the ear; also called Geoffroy's bat. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Chiroptera or bat > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous type of blude-black1647 music-stamper1713 red bat1775 Geoffroy's bat1829 reddish-grey bat1837 notch-eared bat1840 pachyote1865 notched-eared bat1871 valve-tailed bat1871 Negro-bat1885 1840 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 74 Notch-eared Bat (V. emarginatus).—The fur reddish-grey above, ash-coloured beneath. 1991 Behavioral Ecol. & Sociobiol. 28 255 (title) Echolocation in the notch-eared bat, Myotis emarginatus. notch effect n. Materials Science the increase in the susceptibility of a specimen to fracture caused by the presence of a notch. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > specific susceptibility to fracture notch effect1925 notch brittleness1929 1925 M. A. Grossmann tr. E. Heyn Physical Metallogr. v. 299 With decreasing b, hence with increasing notch effect, the values for q and ε_e decrease. 1995 Acta Metallurgica et Materialia 43 3814/1 This observation has indicated that there is an additional factor to the notch effect of PSBs on fatigue crack initiation. notch factor n. Materials Science the ratio of the fatigue strength of a material having no stress concentration to that of the same material in which stress raisers exist. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > ratios of fatigue and stress concentration notch sensitiveness1934 notch sensitivity1934 notch factor1939 1939 Jrnl. Royal Aeronaut. Soc. 43 728 As the notch-depth increases, the notch-factor increases up to a critical value of the notch-depth, and thereafter decreases. 1968 F. A. d'Isa Mech. of Metals vii. 326 The actual effectiveness of stress concentration on fatigue strength is measured by the fatigue notch factor, K_f. notch filter n. Electronics a filter that attenuates signals within a very narrow band of frequencies. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electronics > electronic devices or components > [noun] > filter > type of band-pass filter1922 slope filter1937 comb filter1941 state variable1942 noise filter1960 notch filter1962 1950 Electronics July 75/3 (heading) Notching filters.] 1962 Electronic Technol. 39 332/1 At v.h.f. it is desirable to construct notch filters from coaxial elements. 1988 V. Capel Audio & Hi-Fi Engineer's Pocket Bk. 120 The inclusion of a 19kHz pilot-tone notch filter may slightly reduce the upper response. notch-girdle v. Forestry transitive to girdle (a tree) by cutting a continuous notch or series of notches around the trunk, extending into the sapwood. ΚΠ 1953 Forestry Abstr. 15 313 Trees band-girdled..sprouted less..than trees notch-girdled (to a sapwood depth of 0.25–0.75 in.). 1957 Brit. Commonw. Forest Terminol.: Pt. II (Empire Forestry Assoc.) ii. 79 Girdle, notch, to girdle by making a close series of downward and upward cuts through the bark, cambium and outer wood, so notching the wood all around the bole. notch-girdled adj. Forestry that has been subject to notch-girdling. ΚΠ 1925 Jrnl. Agric. Res. 31 269 Percentage of germination of seeds from—notch-girdled trees..Peeled trees. notch-girdling n. Forestry a method of girdling a tree which involves cutting a continuous notch or series of notches around the trunk, extending into the sapwood (cf. notching n. 4b). ΚΠ 1939 Station Note Central States Forest Exper. Station (Columbus, Ohio) No. 37. 2 The four methods of treatment were..cutting..notch-girdling, the killing of all the trees by the removal of a ring of bark and sapwood, thus bringing about a gradual release during the first year; [etc.]. 1971 F. C. Ford-Robertson Terminol. Forest Sci. 119/1 Making a series of close downward and upward, i.e. V-shaped, incisions into the sapwood is termed notch-girdling. 1987 Forestry 60 45 (title) The physiology of epicormic bud emergence in pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.). Responses to partial notch girdling in thinned and unthinned stands. † notch-head n. Architecture Obsolete an ornamental incision in stone. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > architecture > architectural ornament > [noun] > other ornaments pommela1300 crest1430 finial1448 balloon1592 brattishingc1593 knob1610 cartouche1611 ogive1611 fret1626 galace1663 acroterion1664 paternoster1728 semi-urn1742 patera1776 purfling1780 sailing course1807 vesica piscis (also piscium)1809 antefix1819 vesica1820 garland1823 stop1825 Aaron's rod1830 headwork1831 Vitruvian scroll1837 hip knob1838 stelea1840 ball-flower1840 notch-head1843 brandishing1846 buckle1848 cat's-head1848 bucrane1854 cresting1869 semi-ball1875 canephorus1880 crest-board1881 wave pattern1905 husk1934 foliate head1939 green man1939 1843 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 6 320/1 An ornamental parapet, with a cornice of notch-heads, or dog-tooth, or corbels. notch-ladder n. rare a notched pole serving as a ladder. ΚΠ 1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 657/2 A notable feature of these smaller mines is the notch-ladder system of conveying the ore from the interior to the pit-head. Two masts, notched like bear-poles, form the means of ascent and descent for a more or less continuous chain of peons. notch planting n. = notching n. 3. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > planting trees or afforestation > notch-planting notching1847 notch planting1953 1953 H. L. Edlin Forester's Handbk. ix. 145 Notch planting..is the simplest and cheapest method, by which the majority of forest trees are planted today. 1970 H. L. Edlin Collins Guide to Tree Planting & Cultivation vii. 107 (heading) Notch planting. notch provision n. Economics a provision (in a system of taxation, etc.) designed to eliminate or lessen the effect of a notch (sense 6). ΚΠ 1938 F. M. Vinson in Congr. Rec. 3 Mar. 2780/1 Without the notch provisions, a corporation with an ordinary net tax of $25,001..would have a tax of $1,475.20 more than the corporation with a net income of $1 less. 1945 H. L. Lutz Guideposts to Free Econ. xi. 101 A so-called ‘notch’ provision would be required to prevent the income tax from reducing incomes that are slightly above the $1,000 or $2,000 levels, respectively, to a point below those levels. 1950 H. C. Murphy National Debt v. 53 Amounts of tax liability of $50 or less were canceled completely, and those between $50 and $66.67 were canceled more than 75 per cent in accordance with a ‘notch’ provision. † notch-ringing n. Forestry Obsolete = notch-girdling n. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > forestry or arboriculture > [noun] > removing bark from trees > removing circle of bark ring1700 girdling1792 ringing1816 girdle1825 notch-ringing1884 ringbarking1938 1884 Australasian 8 Nov. 875/1 In notch-ringing, a belt of bark is not only removed, but a notch running round the tree is cut in the sap-wood about 2 in. deep. notch-sensitive adj. Materials Science characterized by a high notch sensitivity. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [adjective] > relating to change of form > having high notch sensitivity notch-sensitive1946 notch-brittle1958 1946 Metallurgia 33 250/1 A forthright statement of which material is the more notch sensitive seems impossible. 1994 Jrnl. Materials Engin. & Performance 3 356 The δ-phase precipitates formed at an angle to the grain boundaries do not make the material notch sensitive. notch sensitiveness n. Materials Science rare = notch sensitivity n. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > ratios of fatigue and stress concentration notch sensitiveness1934 notch sensitivity1934 notch factor1939 1934 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 130 653 The investigation of notch sensitiveness, the use of the index of notch sensitiveness..and the connection between the index and the chemical composition..are discussed. notch sensitivity n. Materials Science the reduction of strength of a material caused by the presence of a notch or other stress raiser; the degree of this. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > ratios of fatigue and stress concentration notch sensitiveness1934 notch sensitivity1934 notch factor1939 1934 Jrnl. Res. National Bureau of Standards (U.S.) 13 535 Even for annealed copper, notch sensitivity evidently is equal to that of steels with tensile strength five times as great. 1989 A. C. Davies Sci. & Pract. Welding (ed. 9) I. v. 272 The term ‘notch sensitivity’ is applied to the degree to which these discontinuities reduce the mechanical properties. notch sight n. a gunsight incorporating a notch through which aim is taken. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > device for discharging missiles > firearm > parts and fittings of firearms > [noun] > sight > types of dispart1578 telescopic sight1674 plain sight1686 aim-frontlet1745 hausse1787 foresight1806 gloaming sight1817 night-sight1822 bead1831 leaf1832 backsight1847 globe sight1847 pendulum hausse1850 hindsight1851 tangent scale1859 tangent1861 tangent backsight1862 training pendulum1862 training level1863 peep sight1866 dispart-sight1867 notch sight1867 buck-horn1877 orthoptic1881 aperturea1884 pinball-sighta1884 dispart patch1884 sight bar1884 flap-sight1887 barley-corn1896 ring sight1901 riflescope1902 spotting scope1904 tangent sight1908 Aldis sight1918 wind-sight1923 scope sight1934 gyro-sight1942 1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Notch-sight of a gun, a sight having a V-shaped notch, wherein the eye easily finds the lowest or central point. 1995 Re: would these products work? in rec.guns (Usenet newsgroup) 20 July Now bolt one end where the snubby's rear notch sight is, and attach a small notch sight to the free end. notch stick n. a tally stick. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > mining equipment > [noun] > equipment for lowering or raising miners or material > for raising material > tally-stick for number of tubs notch stick1853 1853 G. J. Cayley Las Alforjas I. 61 In the fingers of his right [hand] was a crooked whittle, with which..as the basketfuls arrived, he would nick the score upon notch-sticks. 1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining Notch Sticks, short pieces of stick notched or nicked, used by miners as records of the number of tubs of coal, &c., they send out of the pit during the day. 1948 D. Harkey Mean as Hell xvii. 175 I have lost my notch stick on Mexicans that I killed out on the border. notch-tough adj. Materials Science that is resistant to fracture at a notch. ΚΠ 1965 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 285 7 Thicker [steel] plate is generally less notch-tough than thin plate—presumably because thick notch-tough plate is difficult to produce economically. 1991 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 334 384 This failure mode is prevented by the incorporation of notch tough steels in the hull girder. notch toughness n. Materials Science resistance to fracture at a notch; spec. the result (in units of energy) of a notched-bar test on a specimen. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > stress or force exerted and tending to deform > [noun] > specific susceptibility to fracture > result of notched-bar test notch toughness1926 1926 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. 113 624 This method of testing enables it to be judged whether a material has been brought to its best condition in regard to notch-toughness. 1981 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) A. 299 10 A special grade of steel..that had a notch toughness capable of reducing to a low level the risk of brittle fracture in the more highly stressed regions of the hull. † notchweed n. Obsolete the plant stinking goosefoot, Chenopodium vulvaria (cf. sense 4a). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Chenopodiaccae (goose-foot and allies) > [noun] > salt bush or orach milesOE orachea1300 golden herb1562 notchweed1659 sea pot-herb1706 lamb's quarter1773 butter leaves1789 fat-hen1795 mountain spinach1822 sea-orach1845 salt bush1863 1659Notchweed [see sense 4a]. 1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ Notch weed, Atriplex olida. 1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 793/2 Notchweed, Chenopodium Vulvaria. † notch-wheel n. Obsolete the count-wheel in a clock. ΘΚΠ the world > time > instruments for measuring time > clock > [noun] > part(s) of nut1428 peise1428 plumbc1450 Jack1498 clockwork1516 larum1542 Jack of the clockhouse1563 watch-wheel1568 work1570 plummeta1578 Jack of the clock1581 snail-cam1591 snail-work1591 pointer1596 quarter jack1604 mainspring1605 winder1606 notch-wheel1611 fusee1622 count-wheel1647 jack-wheel1647 frame1658 arbor1659 balance1660 fuse1674 hour-figure1675 stop1675 pallet1676 regulator1676 cock1678 movement1678 detent1688 savage1690 clock1696 pinwheel1696 starred wheel1696 swing-wheel1696 warning-wheel1696 watch1696 watch-part1696 hoop-wheel1704 hour-wheel1704 snail1714 step-wheel1714 tide-work1739 train1751 crutch1753 cannon pinion1764 rising board1769 remontoire1774 escapement1779 clock jack1784 locking plate1786 scapement1789 motion work1795 anchor escapement1798 scape1798 star-wheel1798 recoil escapement1800 recoiling pallet1801 recoiling scapement1801 cannon1802 hammer-tail1805 recoiling escapement1805 bottle jack1810 renovating spring1812 quarter-boy1815 pin tooth1817 solar wheel1819 impulse-teeth1825 pendulum wheel1825 pallet arbor1826 rewinder1826 rack hook1829 snail-wheel1831 quarter bell1832 tow1834 star pulley1836 watch train1838 clock train1843 raising-piece1843 wheelwork1843 gravity escapement1850 jumper1850 vertical escapement1850 time train1853 pin pallet1860 spade1862 dead well1867 stop-work1869 ringer1873 strike-or-silent1875 warning-piece1875 guard-pin1879 pendulum cock1881 warning-lever1881 beat-pin1883 fusee-piece1884 fusee-snail1884 shutter1884 tourbillion1884 tumbler1884 virgule1884 foliot1899 grasshopper1899 grasshopper escapement1899 trunk1899 pin lever1908 clock spring1933 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Rouë de compte, a Notch-wheele in a Clocke. † notch-wing n. Obsolete any of various moths distinguished by notches in the wings. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > member of (moth) farfalla1606 taper-fly?1614 candle-fly1626 moth1646 phalaena1658 pilser1736 redneck1773 bustard1803 soul1815 notch-wing1819 satellite1832 bobowler1852 1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 435 The shallow Notchwing... The common Notchwing. 1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 180 The Chequered Notch-Wing. C3. Chiefly Economics. In general attributive use in sense 6, as notch problem, etc. ΚΠ 1967 C. Green Negative Taxes & Poverty Probl. v. 66 The difficulty with this..is that it produces what tax experts call a ‘notch’ problem. That is, it is possible for some families..to have a higher after-allowance income than that of previously better-off families. 1973 Jrnl. Human Resources 8 431 In the last few years..this notch effect has grown absolutely worse. 1992 A. B. Krueger & J.-S. Pischke in Jrnl. Labor Econ. 10 412 (title) The effect of social security on labor supply: a cohort analysis of the notch generation. 2001 Green Bay (Wisconsin) Press-Gaz. (Nexis) 20 May 9 b Olson is closely following Congressional efforts to compensate notch year veterans for lost benefits. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022). notchv. Brit. /nɒtʃ/, U.S. /nɑtʃ/ Forms: 1500s–1700s noch, 1500s– notch, 1700s– knotch. Origin: Probably formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: notch n. Etymology: Probably < notch n. Compare earlier oche v., and compare also earlier unnotched adj. 1 and discussion at that entry. 1. a. transitive. To record or tally by means of notches. Frequently with up; also occasionally with down, off. Now chiefly figurative. ΘΚΠ society > communication > record > pictorial, etc., records > [verb (transitive)] nick?1523 notch1573 score1590 tallya1640 the world > relative properties > number > enumeration, reckoning, or calculation > number, calculate, or reckon [verb (transitive)] > record > by notches scorec1386 tallyc1440 nick?1523 notch1573 strike1626 1573 J. Bridges Supremacie Christian Princes sig. i^v Here in your score are notched vp two seuerall vntruths. a1627 T. Middleton More Dissemblers besides Women v. i, in 2 New Playes (1657) 67 I'll notch your faults up. 1645 T. Fuller Good Thoughts in Bad Times iii. ix. 149 He had no leisure to eat, for notching up the men he met. a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V cclxxxiv, in Poems (1878) IV. 172 Let Harrie's Fate (Notch'd sure with Time) Spin to a Softer Bed. 1796 R. Cumberland Days of Yore i. 4 Eight days are gone by; I notch'd them on my staff. 1825 Countess Granville Lett. (1894) I. 346 I notch them off as a prisoner does the days of his captivity. 1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. ix. 126 We notched the votes down on three sticks. 1879 Princeton Rev. May 478 The cataract itself has notched the records of the ages of its retrocession upon the rocks by its side. 1991 P. McGilligan George Cukor iii. 72 Swaggering,..manly men who notched their leading ladies on their belt. 1999 D. F. Wallace Brief Interviews with Hideous Men 26 Who wants to lie there feeling all ungenerous and greedy while some Yuppie with a Porsche shows off his Tantric Clouds..mentally notching off how many times you come? †b. transitive. Cricket. To keep score for (a cricket match). Also intransitive with object implied. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > cricket > umpiring and scoring > umpire and score [verb (transitive)] notch1712 1712 Devil & Peers (single sheet) in W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket (1934) 170 The two nobles..promis'd..Twelvepence to a third Boy to knotch the Game down exact. 1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vii. 67 They notch in here—it's the best place in the whole field. c. transitive. Originally in Sport: to achieve (a score, victory, etc.). Now: gen. to achieve, produce, or register (an amount, total, etc.). Now chiefly with up. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > winning, losing, or scoring > win, lose, or score [verb (transitive)] > score get1634 make1680 score1742 notch1836 steal1836 to put up1860 rattle1860 to put on1865 tally1875 net1907 to rack up1921 slam1959 1836 C. Dickens Pickwick Papers (1837) vii. 69 All-Muggleton had notched some fifty-four. 1862 Temple Bar 6 286 in W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket (1934) 170 The Eleven notched 305. 1895 Daily News 18 Dec. 9/4 The nearest they could get to scoring was a corner, whilst their opponents notched two goals. 1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 702/1 A speed of one hundred miles an hour has been notched on more than one occasion. 1963 Sunday Express 6 Jan. 23/5 Her earnings now are well above the £10,000 she was notching up a few years ago. 1989 U.S. Air Sept. 106/2 There is little wonder why Cleveland notched a ninth place on..recent ranking of cities for their cultural facilities. 2002 Times 21 Feb. ii. 17/2 The film awards have notched up a lucrative three-year television deal with the BBC. 2. a. transitive. To cut or make a notch in; to cut or mark with a notch. Also figurative and in extended use. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > form a recess in [verb (transitive)] > notch nick?1440 jag1568 natch1570 notch1581 notch1834 1581 A. Hall tr. Homer 10 Bks. Iliades vi. 102 Hard vnto the braine the scull with brande he brake, And in the forehead notchte him deepe. 1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Filicare, to notch about the edges as ferne is, or indenter wise. a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iv. v. 192 He scotcht him, and notcht him like a Carbinado. View more context for this quotation 1672 W. Talbot tr. J. Lederer Discov. 25 You must not forget to notch the trees as you go along with your small Hatchet. 1737 A. Pope Epist. of Horace i. i. 84 From him whose quills stand quiver'd at his ear, To him who notches Sticks at Westminster. 1766 Compl. Farmer at Madder They are seven inches broad, notched half the thickness of the stocks of the beetles. 1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park III. xv. 280 Her eyes could only wander to..the table cut and knotched by her brothers. View more context for this quotation 1862 M. T. Morrall Hist. Needle-making 2 You may see men grinding long steel bars to the necessary fineness,..then notching them at the required lengths. 1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) xvii. 274 The eastern end is notched by the estuary of the Thames. 1906 J. London White Fang iii. i. 118 He knotched the stick at each end and in the notches fastened strings of raw-hide. 1956 G. Huntington Madame Solario x. 111 A white scar notched his cheek just under the cheekbone. 1988 Architects' Jrnl. 20 Jan. 59/1 Under no circumstances should proprietary trussed rafters be notched or drilled. †b. transitive. To convert into by making notches. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > form a recess in [verb (transitive)] > notch > convert into by notching notcha1774 a1774 A. Tucker Light of Nature (1837) II. iii. xix. 319 Persons..might notch a stick into something that could be fancied a human face. 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley ii. 28 Another would notch it into a saw. 1862 G. P. Scrope Volcanos (ed. 2) 136 Notching it into..fantastically-shaped eminences. 1885 Cent. Mag. 29 876/1 The top of the gable wall was notched into corbel steps. †c. intransitive. To make notches. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > recede or form recess [verb (intransitive)] > make notches notch1846 1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 1 Remorseless twins they are for striding through their human forests, notching as they go. †3. transitive. To cut (hair) unevenly; to crop. Obsolete.Cf. Percivall Spanish Dict. (1591) ‘Trasquilones, notches in the hair’. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > beautify (the hair) [verb (transitive)] > cut > unevenly notchc1590 c1590 Sir Thomas More (1911) 87 Yf losse of hayre Cannot mad a man—what Can?..Moore had bin better a Scowrd More ditch, than a notcht mee thus. 1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Bertauder,..to notch, or cut the haire vneuenly. 1688 G. Miege Great French Dict. ii. sig. Uu3/3 To notch Hair, couper les Cheveux d'une maniere ridicule. 1747 P. Francis tr. Horace Epist. i. i. 136 If some unlucky Barber notch my Hair. 4. transitive. Archery. To fit (an arrow) to a bowstring; = nock v. 2a. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > operation and use of weapons > action of propelling missile > use of bow and arrow > shoot (arrow) [verb (transitive)] > fit (arrow) to string nocka1522 notch1635 1635 F. Quarles Emblemes i. vii. 30 His Bow is bent, and he has notch'd his dart. a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia: Henry V clxxix, in Poems (1878) IV. 145 Other well-notch their Arrowes; trye their Stringes And draw their Bowes. 1675 C. Cotton Burlesque upon Burlesque 131 I..had chose an Arrow..Had notch't it, and without all dread Had drawn it almost to the head. 1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 289 Their Arrows being soon notch'd upon their Bows. 1767 Poetry in Ann. Reg. 230 I bent my bow,..and strait Notch'd on the nerve the messenger of fate. 1848 H. W. Herbert Tale Mexican Marches ix. 46 They urged their horses to yet fiercer speed,..notching their arrows to the string, as they rode at full gallop. 1884 T. Woolner Silenus ii. iv. 125 The bowmen notched the arrows on the strings. 1951 A. Bester Demolished Man (1978) xii. 164 He turned with a strangulated cry and ran from the fire as Reich notched another arrow. 1986 N. Barley Plague of Caterpillars x. 116 We were greeted by seven very irritated men, arrows notched to slay anything that moved. †5. transitive. To stop or jam (a wheel). Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > driving or operating a vehicle > drive a vehicle [verb (transitive)] > drive a wheeled vehicle > apply brake to wheel trig1591 notch1674 skid1674 roughlock1828 drag1829 spoke1854 brake1868 1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 130 They can't strike sail, or notch the wheels,..in a trice. †6. intransitive. To become notched. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > condition or action of indentation of edge > become indented at edge [verb (intransitive)] notch1693 gap1847 1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. iv. x. 15 Their matter must be of good temper'd Steel, so that the edge may neither turn, or notch easily. 7. a. transitive. To fix, secure, attach, or insert by means of notches. Also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > fastening > condition of being fast bound or firmly fixed > make fast [verb (transitive)] > fasten or fix > in something > by means of notches notch1768 1768 C. Beatty Jrnl. Two Months' Tour 72 Logs of wood laid upon one another, notched at the corners into each other. 1782 B. Dearborn Descr. Fire-Engine in Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. Mem. (1785) 1 xxvii. 523 A standard to support the arms; another answering to it on the opposite side, both being notched into the edges of the planks. 1823 W. Scott St. Ronan's Well I. i. 13 The houses were notched as it were into the side of the steep bank. 1837 Civil Engineer & Architect's Jrnl. 1 2/2 Longitudinal sleepers of timber..on which are notched down transverse bearers. a1862 H. D. Thoreau Maine Woods (1864) i. 17 One directly above another, and notched together at the ends. 1875 Carpentry & Joinery 62 You can notch in the corners, like E, as it cannot get out of place when the top is nailed on. 1959 E. Collier Three against Wilderness 285 Another log leaves the ground, teeters on the skid poles, then rolls slowly up and is notched down into place. 1990 Pract. Householder Apr. 13/2 Where your partition includes a doorway, notch a noggin between the studs at each side of the opening as a lintel. †b. transitive. To chop off. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > detach [verb (transitive)] > cut off becarveOE carvec1000 hewc1000 shredc1275 cuta1300 chapc1325 cleavec1330 off-shearc1330 withscore1340 to cut offc1380 colea1400 slivea1400 to score awayc1400 abscisea1500 discidea1513 sharea1529 off-trenchc1530 off-hewc1540 pare1549 detrench1553 slice?1560 detrunk1566 sneck1578 resect1579 shred1580 curtail1594 off-chop1594 lop?1602 disbranch1608 abscind1610 snip1611 circumcise1613 desecate1623 discerpa1628 amputate1638 absciss1639 prescind1640 notch1820 1820 W. Scott Abbot I. iii. 60 Have they hands, and fight not for the land which bore them? They should be notched off at the elbow. c. transitive. To cut out. ΘΚΠ the world > space > shape > unevenness > condition or fact of receding > form a recess in [verb (transitive)] > notch nick?1440 jag1568 natch1570 notch1581 notch1834 1834 J. S. Macaulay Treat. Field Fortification 150 The ends notched out so as to halve into each other. 1896 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. I. 192 Rhombic in shape with a corner notched out. 1969 Jane's 100 Significant Aircraft 38/2 Floors notched out for two-thirds of depth to fit over solid keelson. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1555v.1573
随便看	over-precise over-preciseness over-precision over-preface over-pregnant over-preoccupied over-prepare over-pressing over-presumptuous over-prick over-prizer over-prolific over-prolix over-promise over-prompt over-prone over-proneness over-proportioned over-protracted over-prove over-provendered over-provident over-provision over-provoke over-prudent