SCRATCH

Definitions

1. 1. A break in the surface of a thing made by scratching, or by rubbing with anything pointed or rough; a slight wound, mark, furrow, or incision. The coarse file . . . makes deep scratches in the work. Moxon. These nails with scratches deform my breast. Prior. God forbid a shallow scratch should drive The prince of Wales from such a field as this. Shak.
2. 2. A line across the prize ring; up to which boxers are brought when they join fight; hence, test, trial, or proof of courage; as, to bring to the scratch; to come up to the scratch. [Cant] Grose.
3. 3. Minute, but tender and troublesome, excoriations, covered with scabs, upon the heels of horses which have been used where it is very wet or muddy. Law (Farmer's Veter. Adviser).
4. 4. A kind of wig covering only a portion of the head.
5. 5. A shot which scores by chance and not as intended by the player; a fluke. [Cant, U.S.] Scratch cradle. See Cratch cradle, under Cratch. -- Scratch grass (Bot.), a climbing knotweed (Polygonum sagittatum) with a square stem beset with fine recurved prickles along the angles. -- Scratch wig. Same as Scratch, 4, above. Thackeray.