a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. xxxi. 376 Blood somtyme turneþ into quittir and infecciþ þe longen, and brediþ þerinne whelkes and bocchis... By bocchinge [1582 botching; L. vlceratione] of þe longen al þe body is wastid in þis manere.

1465 in J. Raine Charters Priory Finchale (1837) p. ccxcix (MED) J bochyng axs..xv wedchys, j chesell.

a1535 J. Fisher Spirituall Consol. (?1578) sig. B.j O corruptible body which..dayly needeth reprations and botching vp with meate and drinke.

1613 T. Dekker Strange Horse-race sig. D4^v Botchings vp of old, decayed, and weather-beaten Faces.

1686 Sanderson's XXXVI Serm. 392 The botching in of a course shred into a fine garment.

1691 T. Hale Acct. New Inventions 98 That patching and botching with Solder.

1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 158 I set to Work a Taylering, or rather indeed a Botching.

1825 Examiner 6 June 351/1 How much better would it be, instead of this botching and contriving,..to substitute for the present frightful mass of statute and common law, a comprehensive Code?

1866 J. Ruskin Ethics of Dust v. 87 All doubt, and repenting, and botching, and retouching, and wondering what it will be best to do next, are vice, as well as misery.

1931 E. Linklater Ben Jonson & King James xviii. 220 Mishap and private ruin, failure and botching.

1997 R. Coles Moral Intelligence Children ii. ii. 115 An earnest botching up of a child's moral education at the hands of parents.

2003 J. Gillingham European Integration, 1950–2003 iv. 480 The botching of Enlargement is the worst mistake in the history of integration.

1554 J. Proctor in tr. St. Vincent of Lérins Waie Home to Christ Prol. sig. C.i^v They were snatchers and patchers only, and only snatched here and there a piece to patche vp a botching mater.

1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Taccola..a patching, or botching piece of worke, a bungling.

1650 Royall Diurnall 25 Feb.–4 Mar. sig. Bv Botching Tinkers, that will make two holes before they will mend one.

1652 ‘D. Menedemus’ Lex Exlex 12 These..botching Preachers, have exercised ignorance towards the divine Writ.

1706 E. Chishull Charge of Heresy iii. 100 A tedious, botching, trifling, inconsistent Heretic.

1785 Morning Chron. 31 Oct. The ignorant, arbitrary and dismembering hand of a botching gardener.

1818 New Monthly Mag. Dec. 434/2 The popularity of a great poet may..be lessened for a time by the botching crew of imitators which his genius may draw after him.

1850 H. Miller Scenes & Legends N. Scotl. (ed. 2) xxviii. 424 An old botching carpenter.

1917 W. J. Childs Across Asia Minor on Foot xvi. 179 When I first saw an irregular patch of carpet pattern worked on the seat of a peasant's white cotton breeches, I thought it a botching attempt at repair.

1923 J. G. Frazer Folk-lore in Old Test. i. ii. 17 Two original and distinct stories which have been clumsily stitched together by a botching editor.

2005 W. Poole Milton & Idea of Fall i. 16 We may even find ourselves regarding this botching demiurge of vain prohibitions as a jealous tyrant.

1584 R. Cosin Answer to Two Fyrst & Principall Treat. x. 287 He taketh occasion by similitude of a botching tailor..to make himselfe merie, rather than to patch vp anie good reason.

1617 J. Taylor Dolphins Danger & Deliuerance sig. A3 Then let a botching patcher botch and mend.

1791 J. Wolcot Remonstrance in Wks. (1812) II. 452 I'm a poor botching tailor for a court Low bred on liver and what Clowns call mugget.

1870 22nd Ann. Rep. Poor Law Board 1869–70 App. 21 in Parl. Papers (C. 123) XXXV. 1 A botching shoemaker ekes out his parish relief by wages which, with hard work, range from 4d. to 8d. per day.

1891 Temple Bar Oct. 259 The concierge..often supplements his emoluments by employing his leisure hours as cobbler or botching tailor.

1920 I. Goldberg tr. L. Kobrin Lithuanian Village xvii. 142 Lame Gedaliah was a botching tailor.

2007 E. Cockayne Hubbub iii. 78 Clothes could be taken to a botcher, or botching tailor, for patching and repair.